


take me away to some place real

by MoonCacti



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alice and Robin are both a bit too oblivious, Alice has a happy childhood because she deserves one too, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Childhood Friends, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, I think?, Like the idiots they are, Mutual Pining, Not too, Or the one with all the tropes, Robin is a bit too dramatic sometimes and that's honestly all my fault, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-05-23 11:41:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 35,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14933585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonCacti/pseuds/MoonCacti
Summary: Behind the desk, Regina finally found whatever was it she was looking for and immediately started talking again. Robin tuned her out, not meaning to this time. Inside her head was an endless chorus ofwell, shit.She had actually agreed to this. She was going to pretend to be in a relationship with the woman she was actually very muchin real lovewith.What could possibly go wrong?The one where Robin and Alice have been friends since they were eight years old. Robin is a Princess, and for some reason they have to pretend to be in a relationship.





	1. Chapter 1

They are late.

Very, very late.

And it’s all Robin’s fault because she can never hear the bloody alarm and Alice is always the one who has to wake up and turn the alarm off, and then she has to go and wake up Robin too.

Except that this time Alice fell asleep after she heard the alarm too and of course her _just 5 more minutes_ became a full hour.

So, yeah, maybe she's just as much to blame. But she's choosing to put it all on Robin because she is cranky _and_ late. And why the bloody hell Robin can never be the one responsible to wake them up?

Well, she actually knows why. But Robin is just as cranky as she is right now, which just makes her even more cranky.

Also, Alice hates running like this.

Robin is only a step ahead of her, their hands clasped together as to not lose each other in the midst of the people milling about the airport.

It’d be a lot easier to run alone; faster too. And they wouldn’t bump on so many people. But that meant letting go of each other and that wasn’t an option.

Even if they were still kind of fighting.

Robin and Alice had been traveling all over the world together for the past 10 months. They had spent almost four months just exploring Central and South American culture; learning about the people and the places and everything else they could think to inquire about.

And then they took a plane to Europe. Not a solid plan at all.

They were just going to land on Lisbon and see wherever they could go from there.

They always chose to stay at small inns or hostels; even some cheap motels a few times. They had wanted to live an adventure, after all, and staying in posh hotels wouldn't be as much fun; nor would it be to stay too long in the same place.

So they took trains and buses, and like that, they saw a lot of the Europeans countries, not just the tourist sights. They saw the people, and the places that people didn’t like to show to tourists too; the ugly and the bad, but also the simple and beautiful too.

And then there was Asia, and so much more to explore.

But at some point life had to catch up to them. Robin knew her mother was not very happy about her choice to postpone college and just go traveling with Alice. Oh, yeah, Killian didn’t like that too.

But well, they had to let go of their kids at some point.

Despite that, both Alice and Robin knew that their parents would find a way to reel them back home at some point.

And so they did.

In fact, Robin and Alice were very prepared for that particular phone call; they had all their arguments memorized and were ready to fight. But they didn’t count that Zelena would go as low as to use Lucy. Nope.

She had called four days ago and told them that Lucy’s tenth birthday was coming up and they needed to be there too. It was a weak argument coming from her, and they were very much ready to say they weren’t coming back.

That was until Lucy’s round face showed up on the computer’s screen with a giant smile on her face and practically begged them to come home with her puppy eyes and just a pout here and there. And, well, they weren’t monsters. How could someone say no to that face? Even if they recognized the manipulation for what it was.

So all that leads them to the night before their flight.

They were in India. Goa to be more exact, just enjoying the beach and trying to stretch this last stop by booking a flight that was leaving at the last moment possible.

Alice and Robin had to make a lot of math to be able to come with this flight plan, actually. They were going to catch a flight from the Dabolim Airport at 6:30 pm, to London. That would take about 10 hours. Because of the time difference, it would be just past midnight when they landed on London, where they would board the private jet Zelena would set up for them. Almost another seven hours of airtime and they'd finally be home.

But that was only if they could board the plane in Dabolim in the first place.

Here is the funny thing, they specifically had chosen a flight that wasn’t too early in the morning because they both knew they could easily miss their alarm and oversleep. Since they didn’t have to wake up early they went to bed at 2 in the morning the night before, and then, they woke up at 8 to enjoy the last of the beach, their baggage was all packed anyway.

When they got back to the hostel room they were sharing just a bit past 1 pm, they then, very stupidly, decided that a nap couldn’t hurt. Just one little hour and they would be ready to go, get to the airport early just in case. Except that that one little hour turned into three. And when they woke up it was almost 5 pm.

And so the mad dash to check out; grab a taxi and pray to get to the airport in time to catch the plane begun.

Robin may have bribed the taxi driver to go over the speed limit.

They got there just 20 minutes before their plane was due to take off, one minute later and they would be toast. Literally, because Zelena would sure have them both killed if they had missed their flight.

But here they were, at last. Walking the rows of seats on the plane trying to find which one was theirs. Everyone else was seated already and not even trying to pretend that they weren’t staring.

If only Alice and Robin could maybe stop bickering, perhaps people would stop staring too.

“You know I sleep like the dead. You know I never hear the alarm!” Robin threw one arm up in frustration.

"So it's my own bloody fault now, is what you're saying?" Alice kept walking ahead.

“I’m not saying that! St-“

“It was your idea to take a nap!”

“So it’s my fault now!”

“I-”

Someone cleared their throat loudly behind them and they both turned to find a flight attendant with a big wry smile plastered on his face and looking uncertainly at them.

“Ladies, if you would follow me. Your seats are this way.” He spoke smoothly in accented English.

Robin could read the name Aaron on his name tag, just two steps ahead and Aaron pointed them to the only two unoccupied seats, silently helping to set their handbags in the overhead compartment.

“Can I help with anything else?” Aaron turned to them with another polite smile while he dusted off his hands.

“That would be all; thank you very much, sir," Alice answered for them with a sincere smile; Aaron nodded once and disappeared somewhere else.

Robin waited for Alice to take the window seat first and then quietly slipped on the seat beside her, none of them said a word. Alice was sullenly looking out the little sqaure of a window and pointedly ignoring Robin with her arms crossed over her chest.

_Fine._ Robin thought, huffing and puffing and squirming on her seat until she was comfortable. If this was how Alice wanted this to go then so be it.

Robin was not even mad in the first place. Nor was Alice for the matter. They both were just tired, and stressed, and annoyed. Because well, they almost didn’t make it in time. And maybe they were a bit sad at having to end their adventure like this too.

Robin sighed and stopped her fidgeting. This wasn’t how the last day of their trip was supposed to go. She stole a quick glance at Alice’s profile with the corner of her eye and gave up on trying to make up with her for now, choosing instead to watch something on the small TV in front of her.

Fifteen minutes into the movie and Robin could feel Alice pullingon her earphones. Robin smirked when she saw Alice take one of the earbuds and place it on her own ear and her smile grew when she felt Alice’s hand on her arm, tugging until she complied so Alice could lift it to rest over her own shoulders. Alice snuggled closer and brought a hand up to fiddle with Robin’s fingers.

“I’m sorry.” Alice all but whispered on Robin’s neck, placing a kiss on her shoulder. Robin can feel the goosebumps starting from where Alice pressed her lips and going up her neck, her heart fluttering inside her chest.

Robin turned her head to place a gentle kiss on Alice’s forehead, glad that they were not fighting anymore. “I’m sorry too.” 

They fall asleep like that, hands clasped and all.

* * *

 

Alice and Robin had met when they were eight years old on a day Robin was bored out of her mind.

Like, she was _literally_ going to die of sheer boredom.

Like, literally _literally._

Robin had always thought that Ella and Henry were pretty cool for grown-ups. But right now they weren’t being so cool. Henry had told her that they were kind of tired but Zelena had ordered Robin to stay with them while she, Emma, and Regina had to deal with _something._ It had sounded pretty boring, but so was staying with Ella and Henry right now.

Robin sighed from her place draped over the edge of the bed. Then sighed again when no one paid her any attention. Ella had disappeared inside the closet ten minutes ago and still hadn’t come back and Henry was unpacking their bags on the floor.

Robin sighed again.

Henry sighed back this time.

She could see him upside down giving her a half amused look and so she stuck out her tongue at him.

He snorted and rolled his eyes at her.

Henry probably indulged her too much; his influence was probably half the reason she was such a brat. Or so Regina was always saying.

Henry just gave her a smile and got up to disappear inside the closet too.

Robin sighed again.

This whole situation was just ridiculous. Why did she have to stay with Henry and Ella right now? She wanted to see Emma and Aunt Regina too!

Like, of course, she had missed her cousin and his wife. But she had also been locked in this room with them for the past _half_ _an hour_ and she was _dying._

Everyone had gone to London for ten days. Everyone except her and her mom, that is.

All because stupid Joe Price had given everyone in their class the chickenpox because he was too stupid to stay at home when he was sick.

Robin was quite bitter about that, to be honest.

She usually didn’t like those official trips, but this one was supposed to be _super cool,_ there was supposed to be a parade this time.

A parade that she had missed. Because she had the chickenpox. Which was the most stupid thing in the world.

But that had been ten whole days ago, she didn’t have the chickenpox anymore and her family was back from London, but still, she couldn’t even see them now because there was a mysterious man with them and they had _business to discuss._

_"Business to discuss.”_  Robin mocked in a high pitched, very pompous voice, twisting her body to fall down from the edge of the bed, dropping in a very ungracious heap on the floor.

“Did you say something?” Henry walked out of the closet, Ella still nowhere in sight; maybe she had gone to Narnia because this was too boring for her.

Henry walked over to Robin and stared her down with an arched eyebrow.

Robin huffed, blowing a lock of hair out of her face.

“I’m hungry.” She said flatly from her undignified position on the floor. She wasn’t really, but she figured that anything was better than staying another second inside this room doing nothing.

“Oh. Okay. Come on, heathen. Let’s find something for you to eat.”

Robin sprang up. “Let’s go!” She ran to the door with Henry hot on her heels.

She opened the doors, swiftly stepping out and trying to run away, Henry just stuck an arm out and grabbed her by the back of her shirt while he called out to Ella.

With a lot less effort than she thought she would need, Robin managed to get rid of his grip and at that Henry stopped mid-sentence, his head snapping up to look at her. But it was too late; Robin had already taken several steps away from him.

“Oh, no. You don’t.” He took a careful step towards her, holding his hands in a placating manner. “Robin.” He said slowly in a warning tone, taking another step.

But it really was too late for him; she already had that look of mischief in her eyes and a half-formed plan. Robin just smirked at Henry and took off at full speed, cheekily throwing a _catch me if you can_ over her shoulder and cackling madly like a Disney villain while Henry stumbled after her.

Oh, yeah. Fooling Henry; this was a lot more fun.

***

Robin ran through a hallway and turned right on a corner only to find herself in another hallway. She had lost Henry somewhere on the second floor at least ten minutes ago and she was already on the third floor now; a left on this hallway and she would be on the other stairway that led downstairs, then she could finally find her mom and aunt and the mysterious man they had brought from London with them.

There was a sudden _clang_ coming from somewhere on her right and Robin almost face planted herself on the floor when she started running again and stopped abruptly.

The noise could be anything, maybe just someone from their staff or-

And that’s that noise again; Robin curiosity was officially picked and she turned around, walking slowly in the direction of the noise. There usually weren’t any other children her age to play with on the Palace and Robin liked to craft her own adventures. Maybe it was a ghost!

She approached the door that led to the north tower very cautiously, the noise had stopped suddenly but she still could hear someone _stomping_ inside the tower.

Okay, Robin could admit that she was maybe a tiny little bit scared right now if the feeling of her heart beating on her throat was anything to go by.

She gulped and reached for the handle of the door to push it open very slowly, just an inch to be able to peek inside.

Maybe it was nothing, after all! Maybe it-

Wait, was there a girl inside?

The towers on the north side were the oldest ones and didn’t have any windows, just large squares of empty space on the walls that were used so archers could defend the Palace centuries ago; almost no one would go up there anymore since they now had much more advanced ways of protecting the walls of the Palace.

The girl had her back to Robin like she hadn’t noticed someone else entering the room; she had long blond hair that looked just a bit mussed and was wearing a pale blue dress and Robin was positive that she had never seen her before.

Felling herself grown confident, Robin straightened herself to her full height (four feet and one inch, she was proud to be one of the tallest on her grade) and pushed back her shoulders the way her mom had taught her.

“Don’t move, spy.” She spat at the girl’s back with her most commanding voice.

The girl immediately turned to face Robin with shock on her face that quickly turned into defiance, jutting her chin forward and crossing her arms over her chest.

“Who are you?”

Robin was honestly a bit thrown off by that. She should be the one interrogating the intruder, not the other way around. She quickly took a step forward in the direction of the girl and crossed her arms too.

“I asked you first.” She pronounced every syllable carefully, trying to show the girl that she was in the command of the situation.

The girl merely scoffed at that. "No, you didn't."

Oh. Robin could feel the tips of her ear growing hot; she didn’t actually know what to answer to that, so they both just stared at each other for a moment.

The girl just tilted her head and let her arms fall to her side; in the end, she was the one to break their silence.

“So.” She looked inquisitively at Robin, her eyes moving once from one side to another in a impatient way. “Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?”

Robin realized something at that, her own arms uncrossing to hang at her sides too.

“You’re British. Are you with the man my aunt brought from England?”

“My Papa? What do you know about him?”

“So, you’re his daughter?”

Alice crossed her arms again. “Who wants to know?”

Robin rolled her eyes. She straightened her spine and took in a deep breath, ready to introduce herself in the formal way her aunt had taught her.

“I’m Robin Mills. The pr-”

“Ro- _bim._ ” Somehow, Robin had the feeling that the girl was mispronouncing her name on purpose just to mess with her.

“Ro _bin.”_ She repeated slowly, somewhat exasperated. “With an _n.”_

The girl tilted her head in sincere confusion this time.

"Nobin?”

“Other end.” Robin deadpanned.

The girl smiled mischievously at Robin and she remembered that she still hadn’t introduced herself.

“Are you going to tell me your name or not? Tower Girl.” She bantered back smugly.

The girl just squinted menacingly at Robin.

“Did you know that you’re a brat?”

Robin scoffed. “Is that your name?” She was well aware of how much a brat she could be.

The girl appraised Robin carefully, pondering her answer apparently. She finally seemed to make a decision, taking a step forward and stopping just a foot away from Robin. “I’m Alice. Alice Jones. Pleasured to make your acquaintance.” She was very confident saying that while she extended a hand for Robin to hold.

Robin took the offered hand, shaking it slightly once but not dropping it. The girls words may had been very polite but they were also said in a cheeky way that let Robin know she was being thoroughly teased.

Robin just narrowed her eyes in pretend annoyance. If she were to be very honest right now, she would admit that she was quite liking to  _banter_  with this girl. _Alice._ She corrected herself in her head.

It had been a while since she had interacted with someone her age that wasn’t at school.

Robin dropped Alice's hand, remembering suddenly that she was still holding it and tried to look like she wasn’t blushing.

"What were you doing here in the tower?"

Alice looked down and fidgeted with her hands. "I... Well. I got lost?" She didn’t seem as confident anymore.

"Lost?" Robin inquired further.

"Yeah, well. I was supposed to be at the kitchen, but when the lady turned I tried to run after my Papa and Emma, but I got lost. And then I saw those doors but they didn't lead me nowhere, just another hallway, so I followed the hallway and ended here.” She told Robin without stopping to breathe. “I thought that here was the exit or something, but it was a bloody tower!”

Alice threw her arms up in frustration. “And then the doors slammed shut and I couldn't open it again until you came in." She finished, leaving Robin stunned for a moment  while she tried to process everything that was just said.

"Erm... I don't know in what part of the Palace your dad and my aunt are. But I can help you find the kitchen!” Robin said while she rubbed the back of her neck. “If you want to, I mean." She added quickly.

Alice's eyes lit up at that and she looked at Robin with something akin wonder. "Really? Would you do that for me?" She took a small step towards Robin, smiling hopefully.

"Yeah. Sure." Robin answered almost bashfully.

"Okay. Come on then!"

Alice jumped up in place in excitement, taking Robin's hand on her own and dragging her out the open door.

She stopped after a few steps, not sure what way to go, and Robin took the lead, pulling Alice behind her.

They were both running and laughing by the time they got to the ground floor, hands still clasped with one another when they finally stopped to catch their breath. Alice was admiring a painting on the wall when Robin tugged suddenly on her arm.

"What is it?" Alice turned to ask her.

" _Shhhhh_ ," Robin whispered and pulled Alice to hide behind a column. "My cousin is in there!" She pointing a thumb over her shoulder.

Alice tried to spy past the column, but Robin tugged on her arm again. "Prince Henry? He's your cousin? Why are we hiding from him?"

"No reason! Let's go. I know another way into the kitchen." Robin pulled Alice by their joined hands to the opposite direction of where Henry was standing.

***

Hours later, Zelena was the one to find both girls fast asleep inside a very well elaborated pillow fort in Robin’s bedroom, really, Zelena was impressed. There was also a half-eaten plate of brownies on the floor. Huh.

Zelena took in the scene before her with a fond smile on her face. She had a good feeling about this newly formed friendship of them.

* * *

 

Princess Zelena Mills was not a morning person.

Nope. Not at all. And neither was her daughter, for the matter, it was the one thing Robin had inherited from her, aside from the general stubbornness too.

But this morning, instead of fighting with her alarm like she usually did, she just rose from her bed at the first annoying ring of the alarm, leaving a very much still asleep Chad there.

It was only half past six, but the knowledge that her daughter had come home the night before after having only seen her face framed by the tiny screen of a computer for 10 months was making her possibly giddy.

Her usual long shower was sacrificed for a barely 15 minutes one. She wanted to be ready soon, but she also knew that Robin and Alice weren’t getting up anytime in the near future; not after seventeen hours of flying and having gotten home just after three am.

She had wanted to be up waiting for them the moment they got home, but Alice insisted that she shouldn’t, they would get home too late and be jetlagged and tired, and so she complied.

But she was too excited to see her daughter to even consider going back to sleep.

Sitting on her bed wearing only her robe, Zelena unlocked her phone to check something or another and kill some time. She started by checking her e-mails, but she wasn’t in the mood to deal with anything official right now, so she switched apps to load The Mirror’s website and read the news, that was probably something about Robin coming back to Storybrooke there.

The Mirror was the kingdom’s biggest newspaper; you could find a copy of it in nearly every home in Storybrooke. During the previous reign, The Mirror had sold out more or less every edition, the front page almost always being composed of a headline depicting the Queen’s newest scandal; more dirt on her being uncovered, or simply the results of a poll showing the people’s disapproval of her way of ruling.

These days, The Mirror didn’t have much on the Royal Family to publish on its front page. It was almost like an unspoken rule, to not be involved in any scandals; to behave in the utmost polite ways and to avoid the media like one would avoid the plague.

And for the most part, everyone had been victorious in dodging the paparazzi and the harassment of the press; you could barely find any article about Henry’s teenage years. No pictures of him leaving parties drunk or being indecorous. Not that he ever acted like that; he was Regina's son after all. But still.

Of course, somethings couldn’t be avoided, like having the press covering Ella and Henry’s wedding. Or presenting baby Lucy to the kingdom’s subjects. The closest thing they came to a scandal was Princess Zelena getting married again after being widowed. And then there was Robin’s fistfight when she was in high school, but there were only rumors published so that shouldn’t really count perhaps.

So, then, you can imagine Zelena’s surprise that morning when the first thing she saw when the website finally loaded on her phone was a picture of her daughter. A very much asleep Robin cuddled on the side of an equal sleeping Alice on a plane seat. The caption reading _Princess Robin Mills of Storybrooke photographed during a flight from India to London, cuddled with girlfriend Alice Jones._

Zelena frowned and scrolled down, her eyes widening while she read the title of the article under the picture.

 

 

 

> _Possible next Royal wedding on the way?_
> 
> Princess Robin Mills was photographed yesterday afternoon cuddling with girlfriend on a flight from India to London.
> 
> If you know anything about Storybrooke monarchy, you know how much the Royal Family loves to avoid the media. But it seems our Princess isn't caring much about that now.
> 
> A fellow passenger took the pictures and related that he heard the two lovebirds fighting upon boarding the plane. Another passenger mentioned that it seemed to be more like a couple’s bickering than a proper fight. Either way, it's very obvious that they had made up by now if the cute pictures are anything to go by.
> 
> Princess Robin came out publicly in a press release a couple of years ago. At the time, her words about _being herself and loving being able to love_ inspired a lot of other young LGBTQ+ people inside Storybrooke’s Kingdom and outside too.
> 
> Despiste avoiding the media as much as possible, Princess Robin still was photographed out a couple of time with Alice Jones, whom, when questioned, the Princess always affirmed to be only a friend. If you may recall, the last scandal involving the Royal Family was when Princess Robin got into a fistfight with a  classmate in her senior year of high school. The fight supposedly been about the Princess defending Ms. Alice's honor. We all had our suspicions then, but it seems that the Princess is done denying their romance now.
> 
> From what our reporters have gathered, those two have known each other since they were kids, having also frequented the same schools along the years.  _And now rumor has it that they are ready to tie the knot! _
> 
> But while we wait for an official press release from the Royal Family about the matter, have some more cute pictures of Princess Robin and her lovely girlfriend (maybe fiancée?) being just too adorable to handle.

What a load of bullshit! And when did The Mirror became an _Us Weekly_ knockout? But still, Zelena couldn’t stop scrolling now; there was something nagging on the back of her mind and she wanted to find out more. Hadn't Robin confessed to her, just a year ago, that she was in love with Alice but was also too scared of messing their friendship? Be that as it may, if they had finally gotten together at some point during their travels, her daughter would have certainly told her. Wouldn’t she?

And Killian! If they were together Killian would know for sure. Alice would never keep something like that from him.

Still, why did she find herself believing what clearly was just a glorified rumor?

There was a full gallery of pictures of Robin and Alice now. The captions were all reading some variation of “Princess Robin Mills and girlfriend Alice Jones walk hand in hand after landing in London.” “The Princess and her girlfriend are not afraid to stand cuddling on each other’s side while waiting on an airport line.” And sure enough, there her daughter was, on a line, hugging Alice from behind with her chin on Alice’s shoulder.

 

> Princess Robin and her girlfriend have been away from Storybrooke for the past ten months. They both have postponed college in favor of traveling all over the world and have also successfully managed to avoid being recognized by the public most of the time during those months. But here are a few pictures from when they weren't so fortunate.

And then there were even more pictures of her daughter and her best friend, looking suspiciously like a real couple. And more captions like “Princess Robin and girlfriend enjoy a romantic meal in a small restaurant in Bologna, Italy.” “Princess Robin and girlfriend caught walking hand in hand on the streets of Cascais, Portugal.”

 

 

> And how did those two manages to keep their relationship hidden for so long when they walk around like that?
> 
> Princess Robin and Alice Jones landed the Royal Private Jet at the Storybrooke Airport in the early hours of this morning, following immediately to the palace by car and not stopping to give any interviews.
> 
> Are those two back home to finally announce the wedding?
> 
> You can find the full coverage of this story in the next edition of The Mirror.
> 
>  

And then, as if all that wasn’t enough already, there were even more pictures of Robin and Alice walking in the direction of a waiting car; Robin had an arm around Alice's shoulder.

Zelena, well, the whole family to be more precise, could always see that there was something underlying Robin and Alice’s friendship. The girls had been inseparable from the moment they had met. But they got even clingier when they hit puberty, and Zelena and Killian had had a lot of conversations regarding their future relationship, the implication that they would be something more always there. Everyone with eyes could see how enamored they were with each other.

Zelena was kind of hurt now. Why didn’t Robin tell her that her relationship with her best friend had changed? And Alice had certainly not told Killian too, he wouldn’t hide something like that from her. 

There were other articles from websites around the world and gossips mags, speculating about Robin’s possible engagement. Zelena scrolled down the results of her Google search, feeling her hurt become something more akin to anger. She wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

She tightened the sash of the robe around her body and started to march down the Palace's hallways in the direction of Robin's bedroom like she was on a warpath. who cared that it was barely past seven in the morning and her daughter had probably only gotten a few hours of sleep?

Zelena pounded on the doors with closed fists, not even concerned about who else could hear her.

***

 

Alice was feeling very warm and content, right now. You know that feeling when you have just woken up but are still kind of sleeping and you just feel so comfy and cozy and why were Alice awake anyway? She should just go back to sl-

Oh, yeah. That was the reason.

Someone was pounding on the door.

Very loudly.

And why the bloody hell were they doing it at this ungodly time in the morning?

Alice sleepily wriggled her way over the bed, patting the mattress until her hand touched warm flesh and she pulled herself closer to Robin's body.

"Robin." She called.

No answer.

"Robin." She said again, grabbing Robin's arm and shanking it weakly. Still no answer.

" _Robin_." She tried to whisper a bit louder, poking Robin in the ribs with a finger.

Robin didn't even try to squirm away, but Alice could hear her grunting a sleepy _what_.

"It’s your turn to get the door."

"’s not." She mumbled.

"It is." Alice hissed.

Robin grunted again, not moving an inch and Alice paused a bit, listening carefully: the pounding had stopped!

She sighed in relief and grabbed Robin's arm again; in a move she admittedly done more than a few times, she lifted Robin's arm and pressed herself next to her body, dropping Robin’s arm over her own shoulders and cuddling close.

Robin, even obviously more asleep than awake, still instinctively twisted her body to fit better with Alice's. She snuggled closer while Alice nuzzled her face to Robin's collarbone and just inhaled her familiar scent in, letting the feeling of comfort that usually came with being this close to Robin wash over herself and lull her back to sleep.

Alice typically slept sprawled all over the bed, much like a Starfish, and oftentimes Robin wondered if that was the reason behind Killian's nickname for her. But despite Alice’s habit of spreading herself in every direction, they often found themselves in a position like this, clinging tightly to one another during sleep.

(There was also that time in a hostel somewhere in Germany when they had to share a single bed and they had woken up fully spooning. Robin being the little spoon. They don't talk about that.)

But none of it mattered, Robin was barely awake anyway, floating somewhere in that peaceful space between sleep and awareness. She could feel Alice’s warm puffs of breath on the skin above the neckline of her shirt and knew that she had already fallen asleep again.

Robin was always the one to fall asleep first and normally she should already be, except that something was bothering her and she just couldn't put her finger on it.

She thought she heard Alice murmuring something on her sleep, but it wasn't right... She could feel herself getting further and further away from sleep.

Yeah, now that sleep had eluded her, she could focus better on what was going on around her; the murmurs she was hearing was definitely not coming from Alice. It was more like... like someone was whispering? 

Her heartbeat sped up inside her chest with panic and for a moment she couldn't remember where she was.

Were they still in Goa? Did someone break into their room or-

Robin's eye snapped open in realization.

She was back home.

But then who was...?

She shifted her head slowly to be able to focus better on the two figures standing next to her bed. 

Her aunt Regina was looking very fresh and pristine in a dark blue pantsuit whispering something to Zelena, somewhat exasperated and gesturing a lot with her hands. Zelena was just there, jutting her chin out and looking like a very stubborn child with her arms crossed above her chest over a robe. Neither of them seemed to realize that Robin was awake and staring in confusion at them, and Robin took this moment to wonder just what fresh hell was going on now.

She looked over to the alarm on the bedside table, gasping when she saw that it wasn't even half past seven in the morning.

Her gasp drew the attention of the arguing women who twisted sharply in her direction; her aunt opened her mouth like she wanted to say something but her mom beat her to it.

"Finally!"

She uncrossed her arms and took a step closer to the bed. "Now that you are awake you can explain to me what the bloody hell was you two thinking, hiding something like that from me!" Zelena whisper yelled at Robin, throwing her arms up.

Robin's brain hadn't caught up with her body’s awake status just yet and the most she could reply to her mom was a very eloquent " _huh_?"

If anything that only seemed to make Zelena more frustrated and Robin watched as Regina rested a hand on her shoulder, to either calm her down or hold her back, Robin wasn't sure.

"Zelena, I told you. They are tired. You can have this conversation later."

Zelena pretty much ignored every word Regina just said, choosing instead to point an accusing finger in Robin's direction.

"Tell me, how did you and Alice _forget_ to mention that you were dating? Only to have me find about it in a bloody newspaper!"

For a brief moment, Robin felt like someone had dropped a bucket of ice cold water on her body. And then her mom's words caught up to her and her brain _finally_ woke up too.

"WHAT?" Robin yelled.

She wondered if this is how being in shock felt like.

A flailing arm coming from nowhere hit her directly on the face and Robin winced, only now realizing that her scream had probably woke Alice up. Probably had scared the English out of her too, with the way she was staring at Robin's face doing her best impression of a fish with her mouth hanging open.

Zelena’s anger apparently gave place to smugness while Alice was still gaping indignantly at Robin and stealing rapid glances at everyone in the room, not saying anything.

"Good. You are both awake.” Zelena clapped once, loudly, making both girls jump. She was _enjoying_ it. “Now,” she kept going. “Explain to me why does _Buzzfeed_ ” the word was said with _so much_ disdain, “already has published a list of the most likely to be invited to the Royal wedding when I, the fiancée’s own _mother,_ didn't know that her daughter was in a relationship in the first place?"

Zelena’s voice dropped lower and lower with each word she spoke, and if anything, that was even more frightening than if she were screaming at them.

Robin and Alice’s still muddled brains didn't catch up that Zelena seemed to be under the impression that the two of them were in a relationship, and their lack of answer just spurred her on.

"Really, I didn't expect this level of betrayal coming from my own daughter! And you too, Alice!"

In the silence that followed that affirmation, Regina kept staring at them as if inspecting them very thoroughly. Robin slowly raised the arm that wasn't still around Alice.

"Erm. Quick question, mom.” Zelena gave her an expectant look. “What is going on here?"

Zelena took a deep breath and looked at both girls in astonishment.

"What is going on is that I had to find about you two dating on the internet!" And just like that, all the anger seemed to leave her and Zelena deflated. She smiled faintly at both girls, honestly, this was giving Robin whiplash. "I mean, I'm so very happy for the both of you. I always kn-"

"But. We are not dating?" Alice said from her place cuddled on Robin's side, and Robin finally became aware of their position, she carefully removed her arm from around Alice’s shoulders, seeming like she suddenly needed to put some distance between their bodies.

Zelena arched a disbelieving brow at them.

"Really? And this" she gestured to their position in the bed "is just how you sleep every day?" Zelena was very smug as she said that.

Robin spoke before Alice could say anything. She _knew_ what Alice was going to say and that wasn’t going to help their situation right now.

"Just, someone can explain what is going on here?" Robin rubbed her eyes with her thumb and forefinger and Alice moved to sit against the headboard and Robin mimicked her position a beat later. This seemed like the kind of conversation they’d want to be comfortable while having.

Zelena perched herself on the edge of the bed, looking appraisingly at the both of them and taking in a deep breath.

“Someone photographed the both of you cuddling on a plane. And then, the paparazzi, like the vulture they are, came in hoards following you around. The article about your engagement was up on The Mirror before your plane even touched down in Storybrooke.”

“Oh!” Alice exclaimed looking at Robin. “That’s why there were so many paparazzi on the airport last night.”

“But- But an _engagement?_ Where did they get this from?” Robin spluttered looking with widened eyes at her mom.

"Well, to be honest, that didn't surprise me much," Zelena claimed while looking at her nails. "In fact," she turned her gaze pointedly to Robin. "I remember what? A year ago, I think. When you-”

“Mom!” Robin screeched.

She had a pretty good idea about what her mom was about to say and she couldn’t believe her own mother was about to out her like this.

“Zelena.”  Regina scolded her sister, and even though she was the youngest, sometimes it felt like it was the other way around.

"Maybe we should just leave them to go back to sleep. We can discuss this later." Regina suggested, and Zelena surprisingly complied without arguing.

“Fine.” Zelena said grudgingly getting up and finally smiling a real smile while she stared down at the both of them still in the bed. “Well, actually I think I would like a hug before I left. If you wouldn’t mind.”

Robin’s own smile was involuntary. She had missed her mom a lot too.

She tossed the covers to the side and jumped out of bed, reaching an arm to Zelena. She loved the fact that she was taller than her mom, it made it so easy to envelop Zelena in her arms and just press closer to her comfort.

Zelena squeezed Robin tighter against herself; say what you say about technology, but nothing could ever compare to the feeling of her daughter pressed next to her like this.

“I missed you, Monkey. So much.” Zelena said hoarsely.

“I missed you too, mom.” Robin squeezed her mom one more time before pulling away and holding her by the shoulders, just looking at her with a fond smile on her face. “You’re looking good.”

“Oh, darling.” Zelena just laughed tearfully at that, wiping under her eyes with a finger.  She pulled her daughter closer one more time and searched for Alice over Robin's shoulder. “You too, Peanut. Come here and give me a hug. Chop chop.”

***

After Zelena and Regina had left the room, Alice unceremoniously plopped herself down on the bed again, her legs dangling over the edge. Robin took a careful seat beside her, fiddling with her bracelets.

There were so many thoughts on her head right now that Robin was having trouble sorting through them all. And by the way that Alice frowning, she was thinking about it too.

There was an awkward silence hanging in the air in a way they were certainly not used to.

You see, there's this sort of intimacy that’s inevitable when you’re traveling alongside someone with all your belongings in a backpack. One born out of spending so much time together that you eventually find out everything about one another in a way that there’s nothing about the other that can unsettle you anymore. They had that kind of friendship.

They never even gotten separate rooms while they were traveling, and Robin was not sure exactly how it started, but at some point during the first month, they had stopped getting rooms with two single beds in favor of one double. Sometimes they would only stay in the same place for a couple of days and it was so comforting to have someone familiar to share a bed with, even if the place they were was unfamiliar.

There wasn't a thing they didn't know about one another, nothing they didn't share with each other.

Well, except for one thing. Robin corrected herself, remembering what her mom had almost let out earlier.

Yep, that was probably the reason it was so awkward on this bed right now.

Robin opened her mouth to say something but Alice started speaking at the same time and they both stopped short before actually saying anything.

Alice gestured for Robin to go first and smiled at her, dispersing a bit of the awkwardness hanging in the room.

Robin rubbed the back of her neck and tried to speak without making any eye contact. "I don't think I can go back to sleep right now."

"Yep." Alice replied too quickly. "Me neither. We should go have breakfast with everyone else." Robin nodded and jumped out of the bed again, Alice following close.

Somehow, during the ten steps they needed to go from the bed to the ensuite bathroom, the general air of discomfort surrounding them dissipated completely and they were back in tune again; moving around each other in their familiar routine.

They had only needed a look at their baggage piled in a heap by the door to decide they definitely didn't want to deal with that right now. So they chose to walk into Robin's closet and search for something else to wear instead.

Robin settled for jeans and a t-shirt combo, marveling at the feeling of wearing clothes that didn't come out of a backpack and that she didn't have to wash at 3 am in a dimly lit laundromat somewhere. She turned around when she was done to find Alice already changed into a pair of her jeans too; she had rolled up the pant legs that were a bit too long for her and was wearing Robin’s favorite dark green plaid shirt.

They had given up trying to maintain their things separated about five days into their trip. By now, all their clothes were mixed together in both backpacks, not a care about to which one anything belonged.

So, yeah, the sight of Alice wearing her clothes wasn't anything new to Robin. Still, it never failed to infuse a feeling of longing inside her, one she chose to smother every time it rose. It was never the right time to open that particular can of worms.

By the time they made it to the dining room, everyone else was already seated and eating. Lucy was the first one to see them, immediately shooting up from her place at the table to tackle Robin and Alice in a simultaneous hug, squealing all the while.

Henry was the next up, choking the life out of Robin in a long hug and then moving to embrace Alice too and ruffle her hair in a teasing manner.

They only sat down fifteen minutes later, after everyone had hugged the girls and Zelena had taken her time holding Robin in an arm and Alice in the other, again, refusing to let go.

Regina had informed Alice that Killian was running an errand but should be back soon; Alice tried to not show her disappointment, but it was clear on her face, and Robin grabbed her hand once they were seated, silently trying to comfort her.

Henry was the first to bring _it_ up, the little shit.

“So,” he started _too_ innocently. “How have the lovebirds been?” He didn’t even have the time to look smug, his comment earning him an exasperated _Henry!_ from Regina and a more violent elbow to the stomach by Ella that was sitting beside him.

No one had time to recover before Lucy was clapping excitedly. “My dad said that I can be the flower girl! Can I Robin? Please?”

Alice just spluttered while Robin chocked on a mouthful of coffee all the while Henry _and_ Emma were guffawing, Henry clutching his stomachs with both arms.

Regina and Zelena had already broken the news that their engagement rumor, was only, well, a rumor. But it seemed that their family wasn’t going to be leting it go so soon.

Needless to say that breakfast was a mess and by the time everyone left the table Robin was basically in shock and Alice’s face was permanently red as a tomato.

***

Killian found them a couple of hours later solving a giant puzzle on the floor with Lucy and Henry; he held out his arms for Alice to jump into and so she did. Killian caught her midair and let out a strangled noise, but managed to twirl her around once nonetheless.

“Starfish! God, I have missed you so much.” He placed Alice on the floor again and kissed the side of her head, not letting her go.

“I missed you too, Papa. A lot. Where were you earlier? I woke up ages ago and you weren’t here.”

Killian took a step back to look appraisingly at his daughter, smiling fondly at her.

“You’re looking far too thin, love. I don’t think I will be letting you out of my sight again.”

“Papa!”

“Fine, fine.” Killian smiled fondly at Alice. “I’m sorry, Starfish. I really thought you both would wake up a lot later; I just had to deal with some securities matters. Thought I would get it out of the way so we could spend some time together. I also wanted to get an engagement gift once I read the news, but-”

“Papa, that’s n-”

“Oh, I know. Zelena already told me, love." He smiled at Robin over Alice's shoulder. "Aren't you going to come and give me a hug too, Robin Hood?"

Robin rolled her eyes at name he had dubbed her years ago but got up from her place on the floor nonetheless; secretly relieved. She would never admit it in a thousand lifetimes, but she was scared shitless of what Killian's reaction would be; Robin knew exactly how protective he could be of Alice.

Killian gave Robin a one-armed hug, his other hand still clasped tightly with Alice’s refusing to let go for even a second.

Henry sauntered over to them, a big shit-eating grin on his face and Robin just _knew_ that whatever was it that he was going to say next wasn’t going to be nearly as funny to her.

“So.” He smiled mischievously at them, holding his hands behind his back. “I see Alice has reconnected with her father. And Robin, with her father-in-law. This is so cute.”

Robin smacked his tummy with the back of her hand, making him wince and frown at her.

“Hey!”

“Must you really do that, Henry? Must you?”

He was already smiling smugly at her again, go figure. “Yes, I must. You’re my favorite cousin; it’s my job to tease you in all situations.”

“I’m your only cousin.” Robin deadpanned.

“Yeah, well. This is even better than that time you punched that guy.”

Killian interrupted their banter. “Let’s not talk about that, shall we? I really do find the engagement rumors better.” He winked at Robin and Alice just snorted. Great help she was too.

“Really? Because she really just punched his tooth out and –”

“Oh, that’s true!” Alice chimed in and Robin turned to glare at her too. “Erm…” She faltered at the look Robin was throwing her. “They did put it back, though.”

* * *

 

It was going to be a scandal.

A big freaking scandal for the Royal Family that prided itself in staying as far from the media as possible.

Zelena was mad; like really mad. Robin could practically see the smoke coming out of her ears in anger.

They were all seated on principal's Hansen office; Alice's chair was pushed so close to Robin's that she was practically sitting on her lap as she held an ice pack to Robin's eye.

Robin was staring right ahead, her arms crossed over her chest in irritation. There was a guy with shaggy brown hair seated just a couple of feet away from them, holding his own ice pack to his mouth. Robin took immense pleasure in knowing that he had to hold his own ice pack while she had Alice to take care of her. Yes, she was petty like that.

Zelena was standing behind Robin's chair, staring very angrily at the wall while Principal Hansen looked very uncomfortable sitting on his chair behind the desk; no one was saying anything and the only noise in the room was the occasional whimpers the boy would let out.

The doors to the office opened suddenly for a man to walk in. He was probably in his fifties, with a receding hairline and wearing an expensive suit. He looked around the room almost like he was bored before walking to stand behind the boy, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"What is happening here?" He asked coolly to the principal, his face unreadable.

Principal Hansen, a very small, round and nervous man with a goatee cleared his throat before speaking. "Mr. Hartter, we are just waiting for Mr. Jones to join us before we can start."

As if summoned, Killian walked inside the office too, looking over at Alice and Robin, his eyes stopping briefly at Robin's bruised hand and face.

Mr. Hansen started talking before Killian could ask anything. "Ah. Mr. Jones. I'm glad you could join us." He cleared his throat again. "Now that we're all her we can finally begin. As I'm sure you all can see, something happened between those students today; that's the reason you were called here. I would like to remind all of you," and now he looked all too serious, intertwining his fingers on top of his desk and looking from one face to another. Robin could feel her stomach dropping, she knew what was coming. "That this school has a zero-violence policy and what happened on the hallways today is completely unacceptable.” He paused to stared pointedly at Robin.

"It seems that an altercation between Ms. Mills here and the young Mr. Hartter turned into a full-fledged fistfight. Now, I still don't know what events have led those two to start punching each other," Jonathan, or rather _the younger Mr. Hartter_ , spoke around his ice pack, interrupting the principal words.

"She started it!" And even if his words weren’t so childish, his attempt to speak around a very swollen mouth made him sound like a cartoon duck and Robin had to bite her lips to stop her snickering.

Principal Hansen cleared his throat again. "I would very much like to not be interrupted while I speak."

Robin was very satisfied to see Jonathan slumping on his seat.

"As I was saying, I don't know what sort of events have led to the barbarian behavior I found those two partaking on the hallways of this school, but just know it won't be tolerated. Now, before I deliver on the necessary punishments I would like to hear the students’ accounts of what, pray tell, was the reason they found to fight inside the school." By the end of his small speech, Principal Hansen sounded a bit breathless and very red on the face, studying the three students with great care.

A few moments later when no one said anything Principal Hansen cleared his throat once again and Robin decided that she should just as well bite the bullet.

"I punched Jonathan first."

" _Robin._ " Her mom squeaked indignantly, she was here under the impression that her daughter was the victim, not the perpetrator.

"Let me finish, mom.” Robin took a deep breath, her heart pounding inside her chest. “I punched Jonathan first because he wouldn't stop harassing Alice."

Everyone was silent for a moment before Principal Hansen cleared his throat. Again.

"If that was the case, Ms. Mills, then perhaps Ms. Jones should've reported him to one of the teachers."

"But she did! We both did. We reported him trice to Mr. Haywood. And nothing happened; he didn't stop." Robin held her head high, resisting the urge to throw her arms up in frustration. She was definitely not going to back down now; even if she shouldn’t have started a fight, she _knew_ she was in the right in this one.

"So you decided to punch him instead of bringing the matter to me?"

"I didn't decide on anything.” She snarled. “Alice and I were walking to class. We stopped by her locker and Jonathan showed up. He was all smug and mocking, and I told him, _repeatedly_ , to leave Alice alone. But this time he went too far. And when he-” She stopped herself, gritting her teeth and taking in a deep breath to try and smother down her anger. “When he tried to _reach_ for her I just lost it, alright?" And with the last part, Robin seemed to lose all her steam.

Alice scooted even closer, if such thing were possible, and moved to squeeze Robin's forearm with her hand.

"This is outrageous!" Mr. Hartter started loudly before anyone else had the chance of saying anything else. "This… this delinquent just punches my son on the face and then invents a sob story to justify it! I won't have it. I demand to have this girl expelled!"

"She's not making any of this up. This is bloody ridiculous!" Alice hissed back to Mr. Hartter before turning to the Principal. "What she said is true. Johnathan has been following me around the school for weeks now; making lewd comments and being downright rude. But today he crossed all the lines, he said-” She swallowed. “And then he tried to grab me."

"Did he touch you, Alice?"

Robin could feel Killian practically vibrating in anger beside her mom. Mr. Hartter didn't have any remarks this time.

"No, Papa. But only because Robin intervened."

Killian was about to take a step in the direction of the boy but was stopped by Zelena’s hand on his arm.

"Is this true, Mr. Hartter?" Principal Hansen ignored Killian, surprisingly not clearing his throat this time. But Jonathan refused to say anything, looking pointedly to a spot on the wall behind the principal's chair.

"Very well then, I -"

"So this is it? A couple of girls say something about my son and you just take it at face value? Just because my son is too hurt to defend himself doesn't mean I won't! For all I know these girls were the ones harassing Johnathan. She even admitted to having punched him first. She started it! And I won't allow this b-"

Zelena didn’t try to stop Killian taking a step in the direction of Mr. Hartter this time.

"Should I remind you, sir," Killian bit threatening at him, "of whom you're speaking to?”

The man seemed confused for half a second before his face paled and he took a step back, finally recognizing who was in the room with him. But then, seeming to swallow his fright, he spoke again, albeit rather shakily this time. "I won't allow this travesty just because she's royalty." The man spat at Killian.

"Let's settle this then.” Killian turned to the Principal, “the girls say they have reported the lad to a Mr. Haywood. If you, Mr. Hansen, could just ask for the man, then we can know who is telling the truth."

Mr. Haywood was a fat man with an orange fake tan that made him look very much ridiculous, and that was half the reason his history classes weren’t taken very seriously. When asked about the reports, he said to not recall it, but one glare from Zelena and he was stuttering the truth out.

Ridiculously enough, he told them that he didn't do anything because he simply thought that it was just a case of _boys being boys._ Nothing to fret about.

Well, that finally made Mr. Hartter shut up. Johnathan got a week suspension and a warning, much to his father anger.

And Robin got out with a three days suspension too, and an advice from Principal Hansen to not repeat what happened today.

Killian had driven to the school on his motorcycle, so Robin and Alice drove back home silently with Zelena. The three of them riding on the back seat; the only words spoken were to the driver.

By the time they got home, there were already four news websites reporting the “Royal fistfight” and The Mirror was promising a full report on what had happened, drowning Robin’s hopes that they could sweep this under the rug. She was really screwed.

But that didn't mean she couldn't stall.

Robin just about sprinted from the car to her bedroom when they got home, set on avoiding her mom's wrath as long as possible; she was fully confident that Alice was following her until the moment she turned around to find herself alone by her bedroom door.

Was Alice mad at her too? She knew that Alice could very well take care of herself, but she also couldn't fight the urge to protect her best friend whenever it was needed.

Alice was her everything, alongside her family, of course. But she was. And Robin would do anything to protect her; a very dramatic statement considering that there were at least two bodyguards following them wherever they went. Not to school though, by Robin’s own request.

She dropped herself face first on her bed, forgetting for a moment about her swollen eye from the one punch Johnathan had managed before the fight was broken, and wincing in pain.

She stared at her right hand with one eye, the other too swollen to open, it was a mess too. Her knuckles were bruised and a few cuts were bleeding a bit, she tried closing her fingers and winced again, her knuckles also too swollen to bend. She wouldn't be able to shoot her bow for a while.

Robin took a deep breath. Not being able to use her bow sucked, even more so, when she figured that that was her only form of distraction if Alice was really ignoring her. Robin huffed on a pillow, suppressing the urge to scream in anger. At herself; at stupid Johnathan and the awful things he said to Alice. He didn't have a right to do that and if he ever tried to pull that shit again she would-

The sound of her door opening broke herself out of her thoughts; she was so not in the mood for being scolded by her mother right now. But, right now was as good as any moment to face the music, she told herself, turning around fully prepared for the confrontation that was about to come.

Except that it wasn't her mom, it was Alice. And her heart did that strange thing where it seemed to stutter or flutter or something inside her chest at the sight of her friend, it wasn't unpleasant, but it only happened when Alice was near, and Robin did wonder if she had a heart condition sometimes.

Alice was holding a small first aid kit on one hand and an ice pack on the other, and Robin breathed a sigh of relief, if Alice was going to be taking care of her it probably meant that she wasn't mad at Robin. Not too much, at least.

"Why do you look like that?"

"Like what?" Robin quickly schooled her features.

"Like an idiot. Do you reckon you have a concussion? Perhaps we should-"

It should be funny, except that it was Alice and everything was said with the utmost care in the world.

"Alice, I'm fine. Honestly. I'm just relieved."

"Relieved?" Alice repeated; cocking her head to the side in confusion in that way that Robin thought was almost too adorable to bear. She stared at the pattern on the covers on the bed.

"Yeah. I thought you were mad at me."

"Oh, don't be silly, Nobin." Alice spoke around a smile, setting her things on the bed and rummaging through the first aid kit for something. “Papa wanted to talk with me.”

Alice took a seat beside Robin when she apparently found what she was looking for. She gingerly took Robin's bruised hand on hers and set on cleaning the cuts with an antiseptic swab and blowing slightly whenever Robin would wince, finishing by bandaging her fingers together.

Robin watched while Alice worked on her bruises; her heart swelling inside her chest with affection at the concern Alice was showing her. Robin was sure she was probably looking like an idiot again; good thing Alice wasn’t paying attention to her face right now.

When Zelena found them later that night, Alice was sitting with her back resting against the bed's headboard, Robin’s head cradled on her lap while she held the ice pack to Robin's eye.

She knew that she needed to have a talk with Robin, but perhaps it could wait until tomorrow.

Alice stayed that night, as she did two or three times a week, and before they settled down to sleep, Alice placed a gentle kiss under the bruise on Robin's eye, whispering an earnest " _thank you for protecting me, I'm sorry you got hurt_ ”.

Robin ignored the pleasant feeling that shot through her whole body at having Alice so close whispering words to the skin of her face. She also pretended to not notice the butterfly’s raving on her stomach.

The next morning during breakfast Henry just high fived her (on her uninjured hand) earning an indignant _"Henry!"_ from Regina. Emma just winked at her when Regina wasn't looking too. And they all made fun of the first page of the Mirror, showcasing an image of a much younger Robin in a fluffy dress that she seemed to hate, scrunching up her face at something.

The headline proudly said in bold letters that “ _her Royal Highness punches a classmate’s tooth out”_. Though the article inside didn't have many details, it did say that a witness could assure that Robin had punched the poor guy's tooth out. That did make Robin puff her chest in pride for a bit, only to deflate at her mom’s look. Henry’s mockery increased tenfold.

But even her mom, and aunt Regina too, didn't sound that mad anymore while scolding her. If you squinted you could see the amusement in their eyes, though that didn’t stop her from being grounded for life.

* * *

 

Regina’s study was located on the east wing of the second floor of the Palace. It was a great space decorated in that sophisticated manner that was to be expected from Regina.

This room had actually been repurposed after she had been crowned Queen, she had not wanted to have anything associating her with her mother and so Cora’s study had been remodeled to accommodate a brand new wing of the library.

This had been the King’s own study when he was still alive; a quiet place for him to be alone and read. After his passing away **,** her mother had locked it and forbidden Regina of ever going there.

Robin had only set foot on the study a few times herself, since this place was always reserved to meetings and assemblies with foreign authorities and dignataries; very official things she rarely had anything to do with.

But now, Robin and Alice had found themselves sitting on the comfortable chairs in front of the large mahogany desk that Regina sitting behind. Her aunt was typing furiously on her phone with furrowed brows and for some reason, Robin felt a bit unsettled by all this; Robin stole a quick glance at Alice beside her, just to confirm if maybe she was feeling as nervous as her about whatever was it that Regina wanted to talk to them in private.

Alice caught Robin’s eyes and winked at her and Robin’s insides settled down from their revolution inside her body. She had a feeling about this and she wasn’t sure if it was a good one.

Unthinkingly, she draped her hand over the chair’s arm, and as if Alice could hear her thoughts she did the same, grabbing Robin’s hand on her own and squeezing once. A silent sort of calm washing over their bodies at the contact.

Regina cleared her throat politely, making Alice and Robin’s heads snap up to look at her. Robin knew that the desk in between them would hide their clasped hands. Not that she _needed_ to hide it, anyway. But something on the back of her mind thought that maybe she should.

She was under the impression that Regina knew all the same.

Regina clasped her hands on top of the desk and leaned her body back on the chair. And then, to Robin surprise, she smiled at the both of them. A very sincere and warm smile, the one she usually reserved for when Henry, or Lucy, or Robin did something especially endearing.

“I’m sorry that the two of you are being harassed like this by the media.” She began not unkindly.

Ah, so that was what this was about. Robin should've known that; beside her, Robin could feel Alice stiffening, and like Robin was so attuned to her emotions, she could feel her own shoulders tensing up, ready for a fight she didn't know if it would come.

Robin drew in a weary breath and tried for an indifferent half-shrug that she worried wasn't as nonchalant as she aimed for.

“It’s okay. I should’ve known better.”

Regina's lips tugged up again, appraising both girls with a twinkle in her eyes. If Robin hadn't known her aunt, she would say that Regina looked almost mischievous right know.

“Now, my dears; I know that none of this is your fault. And I know the both of you want to end those rumors as soon as possible. But, before you do release an official statement I want the both of you to consider very carefully a request I have.” She took in a deep breath, still looking intently at Robin and Alice.

And now, instead of defensive, Robin was leaning forward on her seat, as if to hear Regina better, her own curiosity spiking. From the corner of her eyes, she could see Alice's face scrunching up in confusion or maybe curiosity too.

"When Emma and I got married years ago, before any of you were even born, mind you, things weren't as progressive as they are today. You know what I mean by that. At the time we knew to expect a lot of backlash from our kingdom even. Except, that it never came. Don’t get me wrong, there were still a small minority that was very vocal about their dislike of our union, but Princess Emma was so well-liked by our subjects that, if anything, our marriage made me a lot more accepted back then.”

Regina paused again and Robin took her time analyzing every line of her Aunt's face; she looked older somehow, talking like this.

“Well,” Regina kept going. “As much as our kingdom was accepting of our marriage, a lot of foreign governments severed their ties with us after that. Relationships I worked very hard to restore after my mother’s reign, gone again. I’m sure both of you heard of it on your history lessons.”

Alice nodded; Robin squeezed her hand a bit tighter, her stomach dropping. She had a feeling she knew where Regina was going with this speech and she wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with _that._

“But that was a very long time ago and in the meantime a lot has changed.” She was sounding even cheerful now, for some reason. “You are both aware of the campaign I launched last year about same-sex relationships inside the monarchy.” Both girls nodded.

“Aunt Regina I don’t-”

“Let me finish, Robin. Please. Then you will understand where I’m going with this.” Regina held a hand up, promptly shutting down any other protests Robin may have. “You may recall that this campaign wasn’t very liked by other Monarchs. Well, actually, we were expecting a lot more backlash than we received. But still, the matter was quickly dropped and somewhat forgotten.”

Regina paused to stare deeply inside Robin's eyes and then moved to do the same to Alice. "But here is the thing. You, Robin, are very well liked by our subjects and the media, despite your usual avoidance of public appearances. And the rumor that has risen about your supposed relationship also brought back that campaign to the spotlight in a good way."

Oh, yeah. Robin knew exactly what was coming.

"So you want Alice and I to keep up the ruse." It wasn't a question. Robin dropped Alice's hand, her face unreadable.

Regina didn’t even blink at Robin’s statement. “Yes.”

Their stare contest was broken when Alice finally spoke and Regina turned slightly to be able to look at her.

“So you want us to pretend we are dating so that this campaign of yours can receive some media attention? Is that it?” She didn’t sound angry or aggrieved. But Robin knew Alice better than anyone else in the world, and she knew there was something else to Alice’s emotionless voice.

Here’s the thing about Alice, she always wore her heart on her sleeve, and this inscrutable façade she was wearing right now wasn’t something Robin was acquainted with, it made Robin feel restless somehow, anxious.

"Well, in so many words, that is exactly what I'm asking of you both. This is something I consider very important and believe me, I wouldn't be asking this if it wasn't. It's the way I see so people like us can have a chance, both inside and out of the monarchy. All I'm asking right now is that you think carefully about it; to not say no right away."

Robin drew in a shaky breath turning to look at Alice to find that her eyes were already searching for her. Alice's blue eyes were staring questioningly at Robin with an arched brow. And Robin knew very well what she meant with that look.

_What do you think?_

Robin stared right back at her, biting her lips.

_Do you think we should?_

Alice bit her own lip, shrugging almost imperceptibly. Robin shrugged too.

_I’m in if you are._

With a wink thrown in Robin's direction, Alice turned to Regina.

“So,” she started. “What do we have to do?”

For the next hour, they discussed what should be done in order to make this charade believable, Robin only half listening to the conversation and barely joining in. At some point she felt Alice hand on hers again, squeezing to grab Robin's attention, Regina was distracted looking for something in a drawer and Alice turned to search for something in Robin's eyes.

“Are you okay?” She mouthed and Robin nodded once. Knowing that what Alice meant was something more along the lines of _are you sure?_ Alice quirked an eyebrow inquiringly, she was saying _we can back out at any moment if you’re not sure._ Robin just smiled at her, immensely grateful for their ability to speak to each other without actually having to utter any words.

Behind the desk, Regina finally found whatever was it she was looking for and immediately started talking again. Robin tuned her out, not meaning to this time. Inside her head was an endless chorus of _well, shit._ She had actually agreed to this. She was going to pretend to be in a relationship with the woman she was actually very much in _real_ love with.

_What possibly go wrong?_ Her own brain supplied uselessly

Alice squeezed her hand again, still paying attention to Regina’s words and Robin couldn’t help but squeeze back. She could feel a part of herself hoping against hope that maybe this wouldn’t be such a catastrophe. Robin tried to smother the other part of her that was actively jumping in the hopes of _something good_ coming out of this disaster waiting to happen. 

A little bit of positivity couldn’t hurt, right?

* * *

 

Robin was very moody when they got home from school on a sunny Wednesday when they were fourteen years old.

Which was weird.

Robin usually had a pattern to her daily routine. Take three times more than everyone else needed to wake up. Get ready bleary-eyed. (She usually brushed her teeth with closed eyes in the mornings.) Then get downstairs to have breakfast with everyone else, grunting something that sounds vaguely like _morning_ to the general vicinity of the table. And then she usually would take a nap on Alice's shoulder during the twenty minutes they take to get to school.

Robin really, _really_ wasn't a morning person.

Usually, by the time they both got home in the afternoon she was in a much better mood; actually saying real words instead of grunts.

Today, it seemed that things had taken a turn for worse at some point during classes and even Alice was confused about what could've possibly had happened to leave Robin on that bad of a mood.

They didn’t speak during the ride home; not that Alice didn’t try to, but Robin was being too stubborn to do anything but stare right ahead with tensed shoulders and arms crossed over her chest.

Part of their daily routine was to follow to their separated rooms to get changed and then meet later to do their homework together. Only after that would they come back downstairs to bother the kitchen staff for something to snack on before dinner.

Robin tossed her backpack somewhere near her bed and flung herself onto the mattress, burying her head under a pillow and squeezing her eyes shut. Today hadn't begun as bad day; it was just an average school day. Not bad considering it was, well, school.

But that was until the sixth period. Oh yeah, Robin wasn't a big fan of the sixth period but it wasn't too bad usually. It was one of the three classes that she didn't share with Alice, and that was okay, really, they weren't like, joined at the hips or anything, but it was the one class that she shared with Amber Finch and Jane Mallory.

They had been once kind of friends with Robin, until for some reason or another they just drifted away at some point, not fighting or anything. It happens. That was until Amber became a bitch and started walking around like she was the evil queen and everyone else was just her disposable subjects. 

Just your regular mean girl. Every school has one.

But the thing was, she just loved to pick on Robin. About anything and everything. And it was okay, really. Robin tried to not let it get on her nerves too much, her next class after that was archery practice and she had that to look forward too.

But Amber apparently had picked this day specifically to go out of her way to be cruel and that was just what Robin needed on top of everything else that was going on. Not even her time angrily shooting arrows, an activity that was very cathartic for her, did anything to fix her bad mood.

Robin went over the last few days in her head; Alice had came out to her and Robin hadn't even batted an eyelash. But since that day something in their dynamic had changed and Robin kind of had an idea what that was, but she also didn't want to think too much about it. It was a topic she was trying to avoid since she’s been twelve years old because she knew that actively dealing with it would be a hassle.

Robin was the first person Alice had come out to. Her Papa had known about it since he doesn't ever remember when; Alice and Killian were so close that he probably had noticed it before she did. Or so Alice told her, half shrugging when she asked if anyone else knew.

Robin exhaled under her pillow, most of her frustration leaving her body with the air. Right now she was just tired and maybe a nap would be a good idea.

And that's the exact moment Alice decided to come inside the room without knocking, which wasn’t unusual, they hadn't actually knocked on each other's doors since they were nine or something.

"Nobin?" Alice called out softly, stopping near Robin's bed.

Robin considered pretending to be asleep for less than half a second before she was calling back.

"Don't wanna talk about it, Tower Girl." She grumbled, her voice muffled by the pillow.

Alice's was a hundred percent sure that right now Robin wasn't as moody as she had been during their car ride earlier; she wouldn't have called Alice Tower Girl if she were.

Alice took that as her cue to plop herself down right on top of Robin's back.

Robin's strangled _mmmph_ was muffled by the pillow too.

She wished that this was the first time Alice had done this.

"What the hell, Alice?"

"What?" Alice wiggled on top of her, reaching for a pillow to hug against her chest.

Alice was not that heavy, to be honest, but right now she was lying with her torso diagonally on top of Robin's back and that didn't make the act of talking or _breathing_ any easier.

Robin removed the pillow from the top of her head and turned her neck to be able to glare at her best friend, who happened to be staring intently at her too.

"I said: _what the hell, Alice_?"

"Language."

"Oh, right." Robin scoffed. "I meant: what the _bloody_ hell, Alice." She mocked in the worst English accent she could muster.

Alice just winked at her and rolled, _rolled,_ to the side to lie in the mattress instead, ignoring all of Robin's pained groans.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong now?"

"No."  Robin said grouchily, hiding her face on the blanket covering the bed now that the pillow wasn't on top of her head anymore.

Alice didn't say anything, just scooted closer on the bed to drape an arm over Robin's back and rub soothing circles on her shoulder blade. She knew that Robin would crack eventually and open up to her.

And so she did

She told about the teasing comments about Robin's height. She had had a growth spurt and was still in that awkward phase where she was just a bit gangly and trying to adjust to her limbs. Her archery instructor had told her that it was a good thing, and soon she would be _graceful as a gazelle_ again. His actual words.

But after that came the comments that had really gotten to her. She didn't look at Alice's face when she was telling her about those. About the way the other girls had spoken about her family or how Robin would probably die alone, because who would want to be part of that mess, anyway?

"Robin. Look at me." Alice touched Robin's cheek, drawing her gaze to herself. "You know that's not true, right?" She spoke softly, looking at Robin as if she was something delicate.

Robin took in a deep breath, lifting a hand to grab Alice's on her face and just hold it there.

"But what if it is?" She asked in a very small voice.

"It's not." Was the firm answer.

"But I'm fourteen years old. Everyone in our class has already kissed someone else, and I haven’t. What if-"

"Have you actually tried to kiss someone?”

"Well, no. But-"

"Besides, not _everyone_ in our class. You know I haven't either”

“Oh." Robin looked down, trying to avoid Alice's eyes again.

A heavy sort of silence hung in the air.

Robin shifted to lay on her back and stare at the ceiling, effectively displacing Alice's hand from her face and starting to count the glow in the dark stars Henry had put there when she was 6, a habit that usually helped her calm down.

Robin had an idea on her head, but she wasn’t sure if it was a very good one. But maybe, it could be her chance to finally know for certain.

Robin worried her bottom lip in between her teeth; she couldn't remember a moment when her heart was beating faster inside her chest. Not even on her first competition it had been that bad.

"What if..." She stopped herself and draped an arm over her eyes so she wouldn't have to see Alice's face when she asked what she was about to.

“I mean. I've never kissed anyone and you haven't done it either…” She paused again. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Alice tugged on Robin’s fingers, trying to dislodge her arm.

“What is it?”

Robin drew in a deep breath trying to draw in some courage too. She exhaled slowly through her mouth, holding her arm tighter against her eyes.

“What if… We just, you know?" Robin gestured vaguely with her other arm. "Just to get it out of the way, you know?" She said quickly but Alice didn't say anything to that and she could feel herself starting to ramble. "Or not. We don't have to. It's a dumb idea anyway, obviously. I don't even k-"

Robin’s rambling was stopped by a pair of soft lips crushing on hers and a burst of electricity running through her body. Alice's lips were gone before she could even properly process what had just happened.

Robin stayed frozen in place, her arm still covering her eyes and her mouth slightly open. Her heart wasn't beating like it wanted to break free from her chest anymore, more like it had stopped for a second and was now slowly picking up the pace again and Robin counted the beats until she felt a hand on her arm, prying it away from her face.

She stubbornly kept her eyes closed for just a moment longer, only opening it when she felt Alice's face come closer to hers again. Robin really wanted to say something, _anything,_ but she also wanted Alice to do that again, so she didn't.

Alice stared into Robin's eyes like she was searching for something, but Robin was just a tad too impatient to wait for her to find whatever it was. So she chose to lift her head and close the last inch separating their lips.

A thrilling feeling shot through her body once more, like an energy discharge, making every part of her body tingle from the tip of her fingers to her toes.

Alice didn’t move away this time though, just tilted her head slightly to deepen their kiss, and Robin parted her lips on instinct, feeling Alice’s hands move to cup her face.

They parted at the same time, less than an inch of space between them.

Robin held her breath, waiting for Alice’s reaction and not moving away.

Alice slowly opened her eyes as if in a daze, her mouth slightly open too, and Robin felt a pang of _something_ when she noticed that Alice’s lips were glistening.

Robin bit her lower lip, waiting with bated breath. This was all the proof she had needed.

Robin Mills was unquestionably and without a shadow of doubt one hundred percent gay.

Alice moved her face just the tiniest bit closer, her eyes snapping quickly from Robin’s eyes to her mouth and Robin closed her eyes, her heart kick-starting and all forms of coherent thinking leaving her when she felt Alice closing the distance between them again.

The moment was broken by a 5-year-old Lucy knocking clumsily at the door before pushing it open without waiting for an answer. It was just enough time for them to spring apart from one another. Robin's heart was pounding wildly and she was sure that everyone inside the palace could hear it too, by the way Alice was panting, hers was too.

***

After, Robin kept meaning to talk about what had happened between them, but something or another always intruded and then the moment had passed and Robin was afraid it would be awkward to bring it up.

A week or so later, Alice may or may not have put worms inside Amber and Jane’s backpacks, making both girls scream in horror during their fifth period.

But if it had been her, no one could prove it.

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin and Alice pretend to be a couple during a beneficent auction. Alice technically goes in a date with someone that isn't Robin, though Robin is tagging along too & they're both too oblivious for their own good. Alice spends sometime with Killian. Lucy only says two sentences, but she is awesome.

**Alice**  
Are you awake?  
_2:07 am_

Robin?  
_2:08 am_

Roooobin  
_2:08 am_

Wake up!  
_2:09 am_

Wake up  
_2:09 am_

Wake up  
_2:09 am_

_1 missed call from Alice  
_ _2:10 am_

**Robin**  
Wat  
_2:10 am_  

**Alice**  
Thank god youre wake  
2: _11 am_  

Come to the north tower  
_2:11 am_

And bring a blanket, its bloody freezing up here  
_2:12 am_

**Robin**  
What the hell Alice?  
_2:12_

**Alice**  
Coooome!  
_2:13 am_

**Robin**  
Its 2 in the morning  
_2:13 am_

**Alice**  
I know. The stars look amazing right now.  
You have to see them.  
_2:14_ _am_

**Robin**  
I can see them from my windows. In my bed.  
_2:15 am_  

Where is warm and comfy.  
_2:15 am_  

**Alice**  
Are you coming yet?  
_2:17 am_  

**Robin**  
Nope.  
_2:18_ _am_  

How about you come to bed instead?  
_2:18 am_

**Alice**  
Are you really going to let me freeze to death up here?  
_2:19_ _am_  

**Robin**  
This is so low.  
_2:21 am_

Fine.  
_2:23_ _am_

Omw  
_2:23 am_

**Alice**  
Don’t forget the blanket!  
_2:23_ _am_

**Robin**  
I won’t.  
_2:24_ _am_  

**Alice**  
Great! I have candy.  
_2:26 am_

**Robin**  
You remembered to bring candy but not a blanket?  
_2:27_ _am_

**Alice**  
<3  
_2:27 am_

***

Alice was right; it was freezing up in the tower.

Robin found her easily enough, sitting crosslegged on the floor and looking up. Of course, Alice was wearing only sweatpants and a flimsy t-shirt even though it was almost winter already. She didn’t even notice Robin coming in but also didn’t startle when Robin dropped unceremoniously by her side with a sigh.

“You came.” Alice gave Robin her most brilliant smile.

“Of course I came.” And how could she ever answer anything else? Truth was, she would come every time Alice called. That’s just how things were.

Alice smiled thankfully at Robin when she passed her a sweatshirt and Robin waited until Alice had slipped her arms through the sleeves before draping the blanket around both their shoulders.

“Thank you.” Alice placed a faint kiss on Robin’s cheek that warmed her from her face down to the tips of her toes despite the biting cold.

“Anytime.” Robin whispered and for the moment no more words were needed while they both started up at the night sky. Alice was right, there were no clouds to hide the stars tonight and the view was indeed amazing.

Alice shifted to rest her head on Robin’s shoulder, sighing happily and joining their arms, carefully intertwining their fingers.

And despite the cold and having been awakened at 2 in the morning, there wasn’t anywhere else in the world that Robin would rather be.

A few minutes later Alice, as always, was the one to break their silence.

“How’s your hand?” She asked softly and Robin let go to of the blanket to show Alice her right hand.

“It’s okay, I guess. It doesn’t hurt as much anymore.” She flexed her fingers slightly and was happy when the movement only caused her to feel a barely there ache. Alice had been the one to change her bandages for the past couple days, and early this afternoon she had said that maybe Robin could go without the bandages for now on. “I’ll try to shoot some arrows tomorrow morning. See how it goes”

Alice hummed and huddled closer to Robin.

“Are you going to tell me the reason we’re freezing our butts off in this tower right now?” Robin asked after they had been quiet for a while again.

“Dunno. Couldn’t sleep.” Alice murmured.

“Okay.” Robin accepted that for now, knowing Alice, sooner or later she would tell her the real reason behind her insomnia.

***

“Do you think we will ever find out if it’s there’s really any life up there?” Alice pointed to the stars with her chin.

“I don’t know.” Robin answered after pondering a moment. “I think it’s sort of obvious, isn’t it? Like, look at how big the universe is. I think it’s kind of impossible to _not_ be more besides us.”

Alice hummed in agreement. “You know, in Greek and Roman mythology, do you believe that maybe the stars, the constellations, and everything else was put there by the gods?”

“Who knows." Robin chuckled softly. "It’d be nice though, wouldn’t it? To do something so amazing that the gods would create whole constellations out of us…” She answered wishfully.

“Or maybe live a love so great that someone out there thought it fair to immortalize it.” Alice said that while she stared at Robin’s profile watching the stars. “Maybe that’s just naivety though.” She turned to look back to stars herself.

“We’re still young, we’re expected to be naive and bold and dream of the impossible," Robin assured her.

“But it’s not impossible, is it? It’s almost guaranteed that in a different world out there this is all very real; all the stuff we pass as being mythology or fairytales or what not.”

“I think you’re right.” Robin said finally, turning to look at Alice instead of the stars and smiling gently at her.

***

“My Papa wanted to talk to me about college today," Alice said quietly after another stretch of silence when the conversation had died down while they still watched the stars.

“Oh?" Was all Robin said, she was just a little bit afraid of where this conversation would go.

“Yeah. That’s what he wanted after dinner. Kept asking me questions about which schools I liked and stuff.” Suddenly Alice seemed very interested in her own hands.

“Did you tell him about our plans?” Robin stiffened.

“No, not yet.” She turned sharply to look at Robin. “We agreed we would tell them together, remember?” Alice answered, scooting back a bit to be able to fully look at Robin.

“I know.” Robin exhaled softly. She knew that when her mom found out about their plans of taking a gap year after high school instead of going straight to college she would absolutely flip. And Killian wouldn’t be much better either, she was sure of that. Not with the way he was so overprotective of Alice.

“He was really excited, you know. ‘Cause he never got to go to college himself.” Alice said very quietly like she was afraid of putting the words out there.

“Are you having second thoughts about it?” Robin asked just as quietly, feeling her stomach drop in fear of what Alice’s answer could be.

“I’m not.” Alice answered firmly and Robin exhaled in relief. “It’s just… I feel kind of bad. For him, I mean. But I really want to do this with you, Robin. I promise. I just don’t want to hurt his feelings.” Alice looked down at her hands again.

“I know.” Robin grabbed one of Alice’s hands and squeezed it in reassurance.

“We really should come up with a way to tell them soon, though.”

“I think it won't matter much how we do it. My mom is gonna go crazy when she hears it anyway.”

“That’s true. Zelena hasn’t stopped talking about college since freshman year.” Alice chuckled.

“Yeah. And if we want to do it, we will need my mom. But I was thinking…”

“What is it?”

“Well. Aunt Regina. We could totally talk with her first." Robin started talking faster than normal. "I’m pretty sure she would help us convince my mom and your dad. And…” Robin trailed off, and gazed upwards again, avoiding Alice’s eyes.

“Robin?” Alice tugged on Robin’s hand that she was still holding until Robin looked at her again. Robin sighed.

“I mean. Even if my mom doesn’t accept it at all, we still could do it if aunt Regina helped us.” She said quietly.

“I don’t think that would be a great idea.”  Alice had no doubts that Regina would be on their side in this one, but she was very reluctant to put both sisters against one another like this.

“I know. I just…” Robin sighed tiredly.

“I know.” It was Alice’s turn to squeeze Robin’s hand now.

***

It was half-past 4 in the morning now; the air around them was getting even colder in the hours before sunrise, but inside their little blanket cocoon, while they were tightly pressed against each other, it was still mostly comfortably warm. Regardless, they would have to leave their tower soon and go back to bed; even if it was the weekend Zelena certainly wouldn't let either of the waist the day away sleeping.

They had moved topics to something random and more lighthearted after Alice had talked about what was bothering her; now she was just babbling about something or another that Robin couldn’t honestly remember what was about. Alice would occasionally shovel a handful of candy in her mouth and sometimes she would speak with her mouth still half full like she did when she was excited and for a second Robin felt guilt that she wasn’t really paying attention to what she was saying.

But then, something inside Robin’s brain just _clicked_ into place. It felt like the final piece of a puzzle finally fell into place.

_Oh._

It was like a lightbulb going off on Robin’s head.

_Of course_.

 

Robin could feel her blood rushing as her heart started to beat faster and faster inside her ribcage and she watched Alice pop yet another handful of candy inside her mouth with the hand that wasn’t holding hers. It was something that she had seen more than a thousand times before in her life. Except, that right now it felt like she was watching Alice for the very first time; like all her colors had shifted and were completely different.

Like something new, yet utterly familiar.

There was no way to explain it, really. Except, the more Robin thought about it the more it made _sense_.

She turned her gaze away from Alice and up to stare right at the stars above, not actually taking on the sight. A million thoughts were swimming through her head and it was hard to sort through all of them. Funnily enough, Robin had never in her life felt more at ease.

The realization sent a shot of warmth through her chest and down her whole body and put everything in a new light. Nothing had ever made more sense than _this._

Robin slowly turned her head to watch Alice looking at the stars too, she was still munching on some candy with a content look on her face and Robin could feel something akin to peace wash over her body. Like Alice could feel Robin's eyes on her, she turned to steal a quick glance at Robin’s face before turning back to gaze at the stars again. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Somethig Robin couldn't quite point on her voice.

Robin gazed at the sky above again. “Yeah.” She whispered, feeling like a clichè; she wasn’t talking about the starts.

“Yeah.” Robin also didn’t notice that Alice’s eyes were back on her.

Robin could feel Alice scooting closer and tightened the hold she had on her arm, relishing the feeling of being this close to Alice.

Robin Mills was eighteen years old, sitting on a cold tower at four in the morning with her best friend when she felt like everything had changed.

Robin was eighteen years old and hopeless in love with her best friend.

* * *

 

Turns out that fake dating your best friends it not as hard as it was supposed to be.

Henry points out that that is because the two of them are basically married anyway when Robin told him that the night before.

Turns out he had a point.

Robin’s first clue came in the fact that despite being back for a whole week, Alice still hadn’t spent a single night in her own bedroom. She went there to unpack, but then Robin followed there too so they could unpack together, because well, their clothes were a mess split in both their bags. So that made sense. But then Alice just grabbed a handful of clothes from her own closet and they wordlessly made their way back to Robin’s room for them to sleep together.

Wait.

_Not like that._

There was also the fact that they did have a morning and night routine that involved them dancing a much-practiced dance around one another to get ready at the same time while sharing the same small space.

Thank God no one knew about that; Robin was pretty sure that if someone on her family knew, they certainly wouldn't let them live that down.

Also, why was it that no one even batted an eyelash when they thought that Robin and Alice were dating? What about that, huh? Shouldn’t they have been at least a little bit shocked or anything?

But it was like they were already expecting it and that just made Robin even more confused and just a bit hopeful, though she really tried to squash that hope down.

So, Robin and Alice had a very close friendship; there was nothing wrong with that. Of course, Robin was very much in love with Alice but that shouldn’t count since they weren’t actually together. Not like that, anyway. Robin wishes that there actually was something else to it notwithstanding.

Robin thought back to the days after she figured how much in love she was; like head over heels. And how after that, when she pondered over all their interactions she saw a lot of signs that pointed in the direction that she wasn’t alone on that feeling; but then again all that could easily be written as simply wishful thinking, couldn’t it? She was a hundred percent sure that she had fallen in love long before they had kissed that one time when they were kids and as much as she hated to admit it, her mom did have a point when she called Robin  _dense_ that one time.

But the thing was, they were actively pretending to be a real couple in real love right now and the timing just sucked so much because well, Robin was planning to finally tell Alice everything. It was more like a vague idea of what she wanted to do than a real plan, but still, it was something at last.

Even though she was also a hundred percent sure that Alice didn’t feel the same.

Well, maybe just like eighty percent sure; like, there were a few times when she really thought that maybe her one-sided crush wasn’t so one-sided, but then there were also all the times that she had convinced herself that _yes, it was all on her head._ So, maybe she had a chance. But also maybe she really didn't. That wasn't confusing at all.

And how would she know for certain if she never even told Alice anything?

But then again was she ready to face the consequences of her love confession? Alice could very much shot her down quick and painlessly; that would be bad, but not the worst thing, _right?_

But then she could also completely ruin their friendship in a second when the words left her mouth and Alice told her that _no, she didn’t feel the same and this is too awkward, let’s not be friends anymore._

As unrealistic as that was it was still a possibility.

And, of course, Alice could just say _I love you too,_ and they would ride towards the sunset together and… and that scenario also brought up a lot of other insecurities.

What if they were in love but like, weren’t made to last? That happened all the times with couples, didn’t it? And then-

The sound of the ensuite bathroom door opening put a halt to Robin’s thoughts. A good thing since she could feel herself getting too worked up over this.

“What’re you thinking about?” Alice asked as she perched on the edge of Robin’s bed and lazily ran a brush through her hair, looking quizzically at Robin's face; she was probably seeing _panicking_ written all over her face. Robin took a deep breath and could smell the scent of the soap that Alice always used, something flowery and somehow that helped to settle her nerves.

“Huh?” Robin asked dumbly.

“You looked lost on thoughts. Just wondered what it was.” Alice shrugged.

“Oh. Nothing.” Robin looked somewhere else to avoid Alice’s eyes, trying to make it not too obvious to the person that knew her better than anyone else that she was lying.

“ _Okaay_.” Alice stretched the word in a way that showed her disbelief and Robin was worried that she would keep insisting.

“What you up to?” She asked in hopes of changing the subject.

“Papa and I are spending the day together. He’s waiting for me downstairs.” Alice answered smiling. “What are _your_ plans for today?” She asked instead and Robin relaxed slightly.

“I’m going out with Henry and Lucy later, but I have an appointment with the optometrist before.”

“That’s today?” Alice frowned. “I thought that would be next week. I wanted to go with you.”

“It was supposed to be next week, but Dr. Dennings’ secretary called me yesterday and moved up my appointment," Robin explained.

“Oh.”

“It’s okay. Mom is coming with me.” Robin tried to reassure her, Alice had been the one to insist on making that appointment in the first time; if Robin could she would just keep on ignoring the fact that she had been having trouble seeing things that were just a bit too far.

“Yeah, but I...” Alice said reluctantly.

“I know." Robin interrupted. "But Captain Hook is waiting for you and you don’t want to be late. We can talk later.” Robin smiled halfheartedly more for Alice’s benefit than anything. She knew her friend was worried about this.

“Are you sure?” Alice set her mouth in a firm line, still reluctant to leave.

“I’m good, Tower Girl.” Robin said firmly and winked at her.

“Okay…” Alice finally relented and got up from the bed. “Text me after you’re done. Or call me. Alright?”

“Okie dokie, ma’am.” Robin gave Alice a mock salute and a lopsided smile.

“And don’t call Papa that!” Alice yelled when she was already out of the room.

Robin laughed out loud; more lighthearted now. Even without trying Alice had managed to lessen her worries just a little bit.

* * *

 

The day Killian Jones held Alice in his arms for the first time had been the most amazing day of his life. She immediately became the axis his world turned on. 

He was twenty-two years old and had just moved to London not even a whole year ago; he was trying and failing to live off unsteady job after unsteady job all the while being drunk all the time. And then one day as he was walking into a pub a woman called him and said that she worked at the hospital; she told Killian that a woman had given birth there and then had run off in the middle of the night. She said the woman gave his name and that he was the father.

Killian had merely scoffed at the woman on the phone; he told her that he _definitely_ didn’t have a kid and promptly hung up on her. But something on the back of his mind kept nagging at him, and so, not even an hour later, Killian had found his feet carrying him in the direction of the hospital nonetheless.

And suddenly there was a middle-aged woman with kind eyes setting down a bald, blue-eyed, teeny tiny little being on his arms and he was done for. She named her after his own mother. That was his daughter, he realized, and from that moment on he promised that he would do everything he could to make sure that she was the happiest kid in the world. He would do everything for her.

He started off by moving out of the dingy inn room he was living in since moving to England and finding a real flat for them. It had only one room that served as bedroom, kitchen and living room at the same and a small bathroom in the corner, but it was beginning. He bought a second hand crib and put it right beside his bed.

Mr. Smee, a small round man he met on his first day in this new country and the one person he ever considered a friend found Killian a job as a police officer. And that was how his life begun to look like it was finally going in a good direction, finally.

Eight years later and Killian was still working in law enforcement; he had moved on to a slightly bigger flat where his daughter could have a bedroom for herself and they didn’t have to live cramped up on top of each other. He was good at his job and could perhaps even make detective in the near future if he kept up the good work. Life was good. And then he was placed in the security team that would follow a Royal Family from a place he had never even heard of during a parade.

Things were looking very grim when, in the middle of all the festivities, there happened to be an attempt against this Royal Family, but despite all the panic that followed the sound of gunshots no one had been hurt. And the person Killian had just saved from certain death was in fact, the Queen. Not the Queen of England, of course, but a Queen nonetheless. And just like that, Killian’s life turned upside down once again, because said Queen was offering him a job in her Royal Guard that would pay him a lot more than his actual job did right now.

But they would have to pack up and move to live in a Kingdom they didn’t know existed until a few days ago and change everything about their whole lives. In the end, it was thinking of Alice that finally allowed him to make a decision. And so they went with the Mills to live in a Palace in a Kingdom far, far away from England.

Alice had thought that it was just like a fairytale; Killian thought that with the amount he would be making now he would certainly be able to put Alice through a good college.

He realized soon after they had settled down in the new accommodations in the Palace, that by making the choice to move to this new place he had changed their whole destiny.

Starting off with Alice and her new best friend; they had become inseparable from the moment they had met and Killian realized he had never seen his daughter this joyful and carefree before. Alice had always been a bright and outgoing kid, though she did have a problem with making friends in school; she was happy but lonely and Killian hadn’t known how to fix that. They didn’t have this problem anymore in Storybrooke. It looked like as fiding this new job he had also found a whole new family for himself an his daughter.

As the years went and Alice and Robin entered their teenage years, their friendship started to look more and more like something else and even Killian and Zelena, despite not having started in the right foot, became closer and closer because what other choice did they had when their daughters looked at one another like that?

So, on the day his daughter alongside her best friend sat down with him and Zelena, Killian thought that for certain, _this is it._

And then they dropped the bomb.

Killian was mostly silent, kind of in shock, while Zelena and Robin went head to head against one another in an argument that consisted basically of Zelena yelling at Robin and saying that no, they were absolutely _not going._ And then Robin going toe to toe with her mother and yelling right back that she wanted to see Zelena _try and stop them_.

He found Zelena later that same day after she had calmed down a little bit, enough for them to talk. Although he strongly agreed with all she had said earlier, (minus the yelling part, that had been unnecessary) he still knew that it wouldn’t be wise to outwardly prohibit them of doing it. Killian still remembered very well how teenagers' minds worked and he was aware that Robin and Alice would find a way to just do what they wanted to do and it would all go a lot easier if they did it with their support.

And this is how he convinced Zelena.

That’s not to say his heart didn’t break in a thousand little pieces on the day his daughter boarded that plane and left with Robin. He didn’t feel right for a long time and even his workmates started to comment on how mopey he became.

The day Zelena told him their girls were coming back home could compete for the top 5 best days of his life. He knew how much freedom was important to Alice, but he could admit that he would always prefer it a thousand times more when she was free but _close_ to him.

Killian had wanted to be the one to greet Robin and Alice on the airport the day they finally came back home, but Alice had insisted that he didn’t need to; it would be late and they could see each other in the morning, she had said. Knowing them both he was pretty sure that they wouldn’t leave bed before midday and so he left early to get a few things out of the way so he could spend the day with his daughter.

The very first thing he did after stepping out of the Palace that morning was to stop by a newsstand to grab a copy of The Mirror.

He almost had a heart attack when right there in the first page there was a picture of Robin _and_ Alice. He had read the article carefully, his brow furrowing in curiosity and disbelief at the same time.

Alice and Robin wouldn’t get together and don’t tell him and Zelena, would they? He and Zelena had admittedly gossiped and speculated about their kids' love life more than was strictly advised for two parents. But what could they do when both girls when very much in love with one another but didn’t have the guts to do something about it? It wasn’t their fault.

Besides the general air of fabricated gossip the article gave off, Killian could clearly see some pieces that made him doubt that this was simply media speculation. He wasn’t so naïve as to take all that was written at face value; but maybe…

His heart skipped a bit; he was happy for his daughter. And Robin too. They did make a good pair together and Killian was proud that one of them had finally found the courage the say the words out loud. He wasn't mad that his daughter hadn’t told him about this. Knowing Alice, she had probably wanted to break the news in person to him and the thought sent some warmth spreading through his chest.

He was thinking if maybe he should buy something for the girls as a gift when his phone rang just a bit past eight in the morning. It was Zelena and he was a hundred percent sure he knew what she was calling to talk about. Killian was just as disappointed as Zelena had been when he found out that no, apparently, that article hadn't published nothing but lies. He should have known better.

Although, that same night, when Alice found him after dinner for a much-awaited game of chess between the two of them and told him about Regina’s plans while effectively avoiding eye contact with him, Killian did think that he had seen _something_  on her face.

So, maybe this whole mishap was far for being over.

***

“Here you go, Starfish," Killian said while handing Alice an ice cream cone. “What are you smiling at?” He asked as he unceremoniously plopped down on the bench alongside her. Alice and Robin had been back for a week now, but this had been the first opportunity he had had of spending the whole day with her uninterrupted and Killian was making sure to enjoy it thoroughly.

“Robin is sending me some silly texts.” Alice told him as she finished typing something and slipped her phone in a her pant's pocket.

“Ah.” Killian licked his own ice cream and hummed in appreciation. “When are you going to finally tell her how you feel?” Killian asked as nonchalantly as if he were wondering about the weather and watched in amusement as Alice choked on her own mouthful of ice cream and felt her face heat up; immediately becoming red from the neck to her ears.

“What do you mean?” She tried to mimic his nonchalance and failed miserably. Just thinking about the subject sent her heart racing inside her ribcage.

“Starfish," Killian said pointedly and Alice realized that it was pointless to try and keep this ruse up. “We’ve always told each other everything.”

“I know Papa. I’m sorry.” Alice hung her head dejectedly and fiddled with the paper wrap of her cone.

“Does that mean you’re going to stop denying it now?” Killian nudged her with a shoulder.

Alice sighed and stared down at her ice cream that was suddenly starting to look less and less appealing. She could see on her wrist the watch Robin had given her a couple of years ago on Christmas, and the colorful bracelet Robin had made her when they were kids and decided just then that it was about time she started telling the truth.

What was the point of even denying it now anyway? She had already told her Papa how she felt about Robin long ago.

“I keep waiting for the perfect moment to tell her, but whenever I think I found it I never actually go through it, you know?” She looked hopelessly at him.

“Why not?”

“Because.” Alice threw an arm up and felt her own frustration at herself rising up. “What if she doesn’t like me back? What if we get together and then break up and then our friendship is ruined? What if I lose her, Papa?” Alice said the last part in a voice so small that for a moment she was worried her father hadn’t heard her.

Killian was very quiet for a moment and when he finally spoke, he sounded more serious that she could remember him being in a while.

“Starfish, if you never risk anything in life, you’ll never stand to gain anything too.” He said in his wise way, the one he always used with her when Alice was a kid. “But I don’t think you will ever have to worry about losing her;” he kept going. “Even if you start a relationship that is doomed to fail. Which I personally don’t think that will ever be the case.” Killian paused and waited until Alice was looking at him again before continuing. “Do you even remember how Robin was during that month you were dating that girl...? God, what’s her name?”

“Anna?” Alice tilted her head in confusion and wondered what did it have to do with anything now?

“Aye. That’s the one. Do you remember how Robin was during that month?”

Alice remembered it well.

“Yeah. She had been kind of jealous.” She frowned. “But not like that.” Alice added when she realized where her Papa was going with this conversation. “We talked about that. Robin and I were used to spending all our time together and then suddenly I was spending all my time with someone else and neglecting her. That is understandable.”

Killian sighed. Zelena had in not so many words confirmed to him that Robin did feel something for Alice but it certainly wasn’t his place to tell.

“Starfish. I know you’re always with your head up in the clouds, but anyone with eyes can see how much that girl loves you.” He told her and tried not to sound too exasperated. Honestly, how could his daughter be so smart and yet so _oblivious_ at the same time?

“But, no, Papa. We’ve talked about this. We’ve talked about her jealousy. Robin could have told me then if she felt anything like that.” Alice argued.

“Did you?”

“What?”

“Did you tell her?”

“No, but-”

“Yeah, but you could have too. So what’s your point?”

“My point is that I’m scared more than anything that I will lose her.” Alice confessed forcefully and how good it felt to finally say it out loud.

“I know you are, Starfish.” Killian placed a comforting hand on Alice’s shoulder and scooted closer. “This fear, this is part of being in love; what matters is what you do when you overcome it.” He stared kindly at her. “And I know that it’s no easy feat, but believe me, that girl looks at you like you’ve hung the moon up in the sky. I’d bet my good hand that she is just as in love with you as you are with her.”

Alice let out a small laugh at that last part and felt like she was a bit lighter at her father’s words.

“What you gonna do if you lose this one too?” She asked, effectively changing the course of the conversation; she needed some time to think about all of it too.

“Believe me, I won’t.” Killian winked at her. “Now, c’mon. Your ice cream is becoming a soggy mess.” Alice hadn’t even noticed that it was dripping on her hand. But even as she tried to salvage the milky mess making her hand sticky Alice couldn’t help but feel herself getting her hopes up and that was a dangerous thing to do. But maybe, just maybe, it could all work out for the best, coudn't it?

Maybe her Papa’s words had filled her with all the confidence she needed to finally do something about the fact that she was completely head over heels in love with Robin.

The ice cream shop had been their last stop of the day; the sun was already setting on the horizon and Alice could swear this day had gone by way too fast. Alice and Killian had had lunch together first while Alice told her Papa stories about the places she and Robin had traveled to. Then they had walked through downtown to buy Alice new painting supplies and Killian had filled her in on all the new gossip of the Palace and everything he had done while they were gone. For a great part of her childhood, it had only been Alice and her Papa against the world, and now they had this big extended family that was always there for them; still, it was days like these that made Alice feel calm and like everything was right in the world.

 

Alice and Killian walked silently side by side along the pier; their shoulders brushing with every step they took. Alice was feeling very content like this, walking alongside her father while they caught each other on everything that happened since they had last seen each other. This right here had been the hardest part of leaving; for the first eight years of Alice’s life, her father had been her whole world and the only person she trusted. And even though now she had a lot more people to rely on, the fact remained that her Papa had been her first best friend in the world, the first person to ever understand her.

Killian had been the one to teach her how to play chess and had told her stories every night before she fell asleep; even when he was working long hours as a police officer, he still found time to play pretend with her. He was the best Papa in the world and she had missed him like crazy in the months they stayed away.

As much as Alice wished that she and Robin could have prolonged their trip for a bit longer, there was no feeling in the world like the one she got being back home next to her father. She and Robin weren’t going to go to college this year again; Robin and Zelena had already had another big row via Skype because of this earlier this year. Zelena had threatened to stop supporting them and Robin had smugly told her mom that she could do that because they had saved enough money to go through a few months more and they could find all sort of odd jobs to keep them going for however long they wanted to. In the end, Zelena had relented again.

Alice knew that the only reason Robin wanted this trip so bad in the first place was because Storybrooke had been so smothering and she wanted to know what it was like to not be so sheltered for once in life. As soon as they got out there, Robin discovered that this freedom had been addicting; to not be confined into the walls of the Palace or have all their steps followed when they tried to go outside. Alice could understand that.

***

Robin had gotten back to the Palace a bit past eleven that night and had entered her bedroom fully expecting to find Alice waiting for her there. Only, she wasn’t there. It may have been just a tad too dramatic but after almost a whole year of sharing her space with Alice almost 24/7 it felt weird to go to bed alone; it was like her room was cold and sort of abandoned in a way it hadn’t been this morning. It was hard to explain.

Alice had been home earlier than Robin, but after having spent the entire day walking around town with Killian she was probably tired and had certainly passed out on her own room for once. The thought didn't comfort Robin. She quickly changed into a pair of sleeping shorts and an old t-shirt and slipped under the covers on her bed; she couldn’t help but feel like there was _too much space_. Like the bed was too big when Alice wasn’t there sprawled all over and hogging the blanket.

Which was just ridiculous, wasn’t it?

Robin shook her head once and tried to clear her thoughts; her situation with Alice right now was complicated enough without her diving into the mess that was her feelings. Robin closed her eyes, turned to lie on her stomach and willed sleep to come.

Forty-five minutes later and after she had tossed her blankets aside, pulled them back over her body only to toss them aside again, Robin had officially given up. She wanted to ask why couldn’t she just _fall asleep_ already, but she damn well knew the answer to that one too.

Tucked in a corner of the room near the desk was her bookcase, Robin stared at all the books there for a moment before getting up from the bed and wandering over; if she wasn’t going to be able to sleep then she may as well do something else other than roll uselessly on her mattress and think about her best friend. Robin’s eyes locked immediately on the familiar red spine of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that happened to be her favorite book and if it were any other day, she would have picked it without thinking twice about it; except that book-Alice reminded her too much of real-life-Alice and that wasn’t what she needed right now.

Robin sighed and realized at once that she had been doing that a lot lately and then absentmindedly plucked a random book from a shelf and went back to lie down on her bed, not caring much about the title of the book or even what was it about.

By the time 2 am rolled around Robin had made her way through roughly a third of this book and had found herself oddly engrossed by it. Robin was sure she hadn’t read this one before, though the plot and characters seemed familiar somehow in a way she couldn’t just pinpoint from where. 

Robin was so absorbed by what was going on the story that she jumped up on her bed when the door to her room suddenly made a noise and opened up for Alice to sheepishly walk in. The book Robin was reading made an absurdly loud noise in the quiet room where Robin accidentally dropped it on the floor when she was startled.

“I thought you were sleeping already.” Alice said in lieu of a greeting and Robin simply arched an eyebrow and waited for her to elaborate.

“So you were just going to sneak into my room when you thought I was asleep.” Robin said finally when Alice didn’t move or say anything else after a few moments.

“What. No.” Alice let go of the door and slowly walked further into the room until she stopped by Robin’s bedside and bent down to pick up the book. She sat down on the edge of the bed with her back to Robin and fidgeted with the pages of the book and it suddenly dawned on Robin that something must be wrong.

“Alice, hey.” Robin said softly while she sat up against the headboard and rested a hand on Alice’s shoulder to grab her attention. “What’s wrong?”

Alice didn’t say anything, though from this angle Robin could see that she was chewing on her bottom lip. “Alice.” Robin called again.

“It’s- It’s nothing.” Alice mumbled. “I just had a stupid dream.” Her voice sounded so small that for a moment Robin didn’t recognize it. And then it clicked.

Stupid dream meant a nightmare she didn’t want to talk about. Probably _the_ nightmare. The recurring one she had since she was a kid and her mother showed up that one time. Robin scooted closer to Alice on the bed to be able to give her a hug from behind and set her chin on her shoulder.

"I'm here, okay?" She whispered in Alice's ear.

“I know.” Alice sighed and leaned back on Robin's embrace.

Robin knew Alice would try to avoid sleep as much as possible after having one of those dreams and she racked her brain for something to do that would take Alice’s mind from it. Robin’s eyes roamed the room searching for some inspiration when something on the bottommost shelf of the bookcase caught her attention.

That would be perfect.

“We’re going to play chess.”Robin announced as she was already disentangling herself from Alice and getting up from the bed to make her way to grab the small box that held the chess set Alice had gifted her years ago.

“Huh?” Alice blinked in confusion and Robin smirked.

“We’re going to play chess.” She repeated. “You owe me a rematch and I’ll have you know that I’m a much better player now than I was when you beat me last time.”

Alice silently watched as Robin climbed onto the bed again and sat cross-legged right in the middle and on top of the covers and started to set the board. “Do you mean you have been practicing then?” Alice asked as she moved to mimic Robin’s position and Robin was incredibly proud of herself when she noticed Alice’s lips tugging up a little. Though the smile didn’t reach her eyes, it was a beginning.

Robin scoffed, neither confirming nor denying it. She absolutely sucked at chess. Alice had taught her years ago how to play and although she had learned about all the moves and rules, she had never quite gotten the hang of it, which meant that Alice would absolutely win every game they played. She had won even the times she had tried to let Robin win; Robin was so bad at it that she ended up losing anyway.

But that wasn’t the point; the point was to distract Alice enough until she wouldn’t fight sleep anymore.

Robin paid attention to all the tips and pointers Alice kept giving her to try and improve her way of playing and at least make it a challenge for Alice. She doubted that she had succeeded at that, though she did accomplish her plan of distracting her friend.

They didn’t talk much while they were playing; Alice was quiet like she usually was after she had one of those dreams and Robin needed all the concentration she could get to play chess. She also wanted to give Alice a bit of space; she knew Alice would talk when she was ready.

“So you’ll have to wear glasses from now on.” Alice broke their silence as she moved one of her bishops.

“Yep. But it’s not too bad, as long as I keep up with semiregular visits to Dr. Dennings then I should be okay to… you know.” Robin looked up from the chess board and made a vague gesture with her hand. Sure, she was a bit upset about having to wear glasses, (or contacts, Dr. Dennings had said and Robin liked that idea even less) but it also wasn’t the end of the world and thank God Alice understood that she didn’t really want to discuss this now. She looked down at the board and moved a knight, frowning when she realized Alice could beat her easily if she wanted to.

“Okay.” Alice said while looking pointedly at Robin in a manner that meant that they would be talking about it at some point in the future.

Sometime later after they had been playing silently for a while again and Alice yawned for the third time in so many minutes Robin nonchalantly suggested that perhaps they should try and go to sleep already. It was past three in the morning and for a moment Robin worried that Alice would say no and was very relieved when Alice simply nodded; she carefully picked the chess board to set it on the floor without disrupting any pieces so they could continue the game next morning and they both crawled under the covers.

It didn’t take Alice five minutes to fall asleep on her place with her head on Robin’s chest and Robin quickly followed suit.

The next morning, Robin was surprised to find that she was the first one to wake up and her heart stuttered inside her chest when she realized that they had remained the whole night in the same position they had fallen asleep.

* * *

 

Anna Mason.

That was the name of the bane of Robin’s existence.

Short, brunette and accordingly to a lot of people, had the _perfect_ chocolate brown eyes.

Everyone loved her.

She was part of the track team _and_ was also on the chess club. A jock _and_ a nerd.

All around sweetheart.

Robin just wished she would trip while she was running the 100m and broke her nose.

She kept imagining it but it wasn’t like she hated the girl or anything, really. It was more like a mild _dislike_ towards her; like that kind of people you just cannot stand for _no reason_ whatsoever _,_ you know?

Until two weeks ago they were even kind of friendly towards each other, or as friendly as you are towards someone you see once a day to run with but don’t know very well.

The last twelve practice races that Robin had won had been probably all out of spite. Robin had been a good competitor before, but there had been a balance to their team before; everyone used to have a chance to show their skills equally and that was all gone now because Robin was making it a point to show that she was actually better. There was nothing sweeter than watching Anna Mason come in second all the time now because Robin wasn’t going to allow anyone to pass her on the track.

(Because Anna had already beaten Robin on more important things.)

Two weeks ago, Alice had met Robin at her locker after her chess club meeting like they did every day so they could ride home together. The difference this time was that Alice’s smile was a lot bigger than it usually was and there was a spring to her step that hadn't been there when Robin had last seen her just a couple of hours before.

The reason for that apparently was because Anna Mason had asked her out when their meeting was finished.

That had been fourteen days ago, and since then, Robin found herself in a constant battle with herself: having to pretend that she was happy for her friend while also hiding how displeased she was with it, _and_ the reason behind it.

And if that wasn’t enough it wasn’t like she had a right to be unhappy about Alice’s dating situation at all.

She had had her chance and she hadn’t taken it after all.

***

When Anna finally caught up to Robin at the finishing line, having lost yet again, what she said was a simple _“Good run, Robin.”_

Smiling.

She was smiling even though Robin had just made her eat dust for the past hour and if anything that just made Robin’s blood boil again. She wanted to punch that smile out of Anna’s face, _oh god_ , she dreamed about that. But instead, her only response was a semi-intelligible grumble and then to promptly give her back to Anna and start to march in the direction of the locker room. She could imagine Anna’s face in the bullseye when she got her bow on her hands later.

Well, at least that was the plan until...

“Robin! Hey, Robin!”

Until Alice showed up too.

Robin stopped on her tracks and hung her head, drawing in a deep breath. For a hot second, she considered pretending that she hadn’t heard Alice, but she was already turning around before that thought could even be fully processed. Alice was smiling at Anna and Robin could see what Anna was just about to do, so she jogged over and put on a smile that wasn’t entirely fake, because, well, it was Alice and smiling around her was like, Robin’s default setting.

“Hey, Tower Girl!” She called out, louder than she actually needed to, but it had the desired effect when Anna Mason took a step back from Alice and turned to watch Robin approach them.

“Tower Girl?” Anna asked, tilting her head in confusion.

“It’s our thing.” Robin answered before Alice had the chance. And then, just because she could, she pulled Alice in a fierce hug, not caring that she was all sweaty and probably reeking too. Alice wouldn’t care either.

“Oh, God. You stink!” Alice said laughing but didn’t pull away and Robin felt her heart grow to double its size; the butterflies that were always there on her stomach whenever Alice was near made themselves know and Robin just ignored them all in favour of savouring Alice's closeness.

When they finally let go of each other, (Robin may have stretched their embrace a little bit longer than was really necessary considering that they had seen each other barely an hour ago). Anna was watching them with a funny expression on her face. Was it Robin imagination or did her smile seemed a bit strained?

Anna stepped closer to Alice to entangle their fingers as soon as Robin let go and Robin’s eyes were drawn to the movement like a magnet. She tried hard to school her features so Alice wouldn’t notice the jealousy still burning inside her.

“So. Did you come here to watch me make everyone else eat dirt today?” Robin asked Alice, feigning cockiness. Alice may be dating Anna Mason now, but she had always made it a point to come and watch Robin’s practices whenever she could.

Alice opened her mouth to say something but Anna beat her to it.

“Actually,” she said sickeningly sweet and Robin took the opportunity to imagine a bird running over and popping on her head. “Alice and I have some plans. Are you ready to go, babe?”

_Babe_. The single, most ridiculous thing one could ever call a significant other. Robin had to hold in the urge to scoff loudly at that. She actually _knew_ when she was being dismissed, but goddamnit if she was walking away now.

“Plans?” She inquired obtusely, tilting her head in not-so-pretend curiosity.

“Yeah.” Alice finally had a chance to talk. “We’re going to that place that opened near the mall and then Anna wants to watch that new dystopian movie about that girl, you know, I forgot what is called.” She finished with a small smile.

“Oh. Really?” Robin said. She had barely a vague idea about what Alice was talking about. “I’ve been _dying_ to watch it too!” She wasn’t.

“Is that right?” Anna's smile was very weary right then and Robin couldn’t help but be proud that she managed to do that. “Did you watch the first one?”

“Of course.” She had not. “Though I think the book was better.” She really went out on a limb with that one.

“You should join us, then.” Alice invited her like Robin knew she would, genuinely happy.

“I don’t know if there will be any tickets left; I bought ours a couple of days ago already. Wouldn’t want Robin to waste a trip.” Anna told Alice.

Oh, Anna. Everyone knew exactly what you were playing at.

Well, everyone but Alice, God bless her soul. She was none the wiser to the amount of tension currently in the air between Anna and Robin right then.

“Ah.” Robin tried to smile less wickedly than she really wanted to; this invitation was exactly what she was fishing for and there was no way Anna was making her stay behind. “Good thinking. Alice, can you lend me your phone for a second. Mine is in my locker.”

“Sure.” Alice patted both her front pockets before remembering her phone was in her bag. “Here.” She handed Robin the phone after she had found it buried under her books.

Robin quickly entered the password and opened the browser app, googling the movie theater and clicking on the first link on the results. It wasn’t hard to find the movie’s name and open the next page to buy a ticket. Alice helpfully informed her of the time their session was starting and Anna very reluctantly mumbled the number of their seats.

“Look, there’s a chair right next to yours!” Robin said smugly, quickly inserting her credit card information and paying for her ticket before handing the phone back to Alice. If it were any other situation and any other people, Robin would have already left so the couple could have a moment to themselves. But it wasn’t any other situation and it was Alice, so hell no, she wasn’t moving.

Alice’s friendship when they were kids may have had a great influence on making Robin less of a brat, but Robin still knew very well how to be one. Anna would just have to deal with it.

“We should probably go take a shower if we want to make it on time.” Robin said pointedly and Anna nodded, reluctant to let go of Alice’s hand. Robin had to literally stop herself from rolling her eyes.

She and Anna walked together to the locker room, Robin a few steps ahead; they had just walked inside when Anna decided she wanted to talk.

“Look, Robin. I know th-” Robin knew very well what Anna was about to ask her and she wasn't have none of it. She saw Lisa leaving a stall wrapped in a towel and there was her opportunity.

“Hey, I just saw a free shower. Can’t we talk later?” She interrupted Anna before she could finish and walked away before she had the chance to answer. Anna was going to ask her if she could maybe fake an excuse and maybe go somewhere else so she and Alice could be alone for a bit. Like hell she would do that.

Good thing she was a quick thinker, Robin thought smugly as she took the world’s fastest shower just so she would be finished before Anna and beat her to go find Alice first where she was waiting for them at the bleachers.

Yes, she was petty like that.

***

The ride to the restaurant was one of the worst of Robin’s life just because Alice had chosen to ride with Anna instead of with her.

Fine, Anna was literally Alice’s girlfriend (oh boy, if just thinking about that didn’t make Robin want to punch something) and it was normal that she would want to spend time with said girlfriend and Robin was totally planning on catching a ride with them too. But then she was also literally a princess and of course, that meant she had to go everywhere with her stupid bodyguard in their stupid super safe car.

Noah, the driver slash bodyguard kept sending amused looks her way through the rearview mirror, and well, she knew how much like a spoiled kid that didn’t get her way she was looking right now with her arms crossed and sulky expression.

In her defense, she kind of was aspoiled kid that didn't get her way.

But that wasn’t the point.

The point was that since finding out that she was in love with Alice, Robin had had countless opportunities to tell Alice how she felt. Not that just because she felt that way Alice was instantly obligated to feel that way too and like magic, they would be together. But it didn’t matter anyway, because anytime she thought about telling Alice that she was in love with her, she chickened out and said something else. Because when it came down to it, she wouldn’t want to lose Alice if she told Robin she didn’t feel the same way.

And that was a whole other thing because it wasn’t like Alice would actually end their friendship over that, but anxiety was a real thing that kept real people from doing real things. And although Robin knew that Alice would never do _that_ , there was still a big part of her brain that was in an infinite loop of _what ifs._

This situation now was honestly at least fifty percent her fault. If she had told Alice how she really felt weeks ago like she should have, and if the twenty percent of her that thought that Alice felt the same was were right, then maybe she would be Alice’s girlfriend right now instead of stupid Anna Mason.

See, Robin was good at math.

_And stupid at everything else,_ her brain added uselessly.

Anyway, they were parking at the restaurant; she needed to school her features to look like she was absolutely not sulking the whole ride from school to there.

***

Well, that was a disaster.

What did Robin expect by crashing her best friend’s date with her girlfriend?

Robin totally knew how Julia Roberts felt right now.

***

Okay, so this wasn’t totally a disaster after all.

Alice sat beside Robin while they watched the movie. Who cares if Anna was sitting by Alice’s other side and had an arm around her shoulders? Robin certainly didn’t.

She couldn’t honestly say what the movie had been about further than the general dystopian vibe; she was too busy paying attention to Anna’s every move and it was a lot of effort to pretend that she _wasn’t_. But it paid off because every time it looked like Anna’s face was getting too close to Alice’s, Robin would make a random comment to pull Alice’s attention towards herself.

Read, _a brat_.

You know what, Robin was her mother’s daughter and she damn well knew how to be an asshole when she wanted to.

***

The highlight had totally been when Robin noticed Alice rubbing her arm with a hand like she was cold and promptly slipped out of her jacket to offer it to Alice.

Totally a two birds, one stone situation too. For Alice to slip into the jacket, Anna’s arm had to be displaced from her shoulders. Robin smirked for the rest of the movie.

Well, at least now Anna could finally realize what was going on. Maybe she would take the hint.

***

The second highlight of the day was when the movie ended and Alice chose to ride home with Robin.

Take that Anna Mason.

***

Alice was uncharacteristically quiet as they walked inside Robin’s room and Robin really didn’t know what to do to disperse the awkwardness hanging around them. So she walked inside her closet to change like everything was normal and watched as Alice stopped by the desk and furrowed her brows looking down at the floor.

“What?” Robin asked when she was already inside her favourite pair of flannel pants and a shirt she was almost sure used to belong to Alice and she just couldn't bear the silence anymore.

Alice took a deep breath and finally looked up with a half-smile on her face.

“Look,” she began, more serious than Robin was expecting. “I know what’s going on here.”

Robin paled and froze in place where she putting on her socks. “You, erm...” She cleared her throat while her heart started a mad race in her ribcage. “You know?”

Alice couldn’t possibly know _, could she?_

“Look,” Alice started, walking the rest of the way and gingerly sitting on the edge of Robin’s bed. “Robin, I know you. And I know when you’re jealous.”

“Jealo-” Robin choked on air. “Jealous? I’m- Me? _Noo!_ Huh?” She sputtered, and if she was trying to convince Alice that she wasn’t jealous, she absolutely failed at that.

Alice arched a brow and simply waited. Robin sighed and then drew in a deep breath to try and calm her heart rate. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

“What-” She cleared her throat. “Hm. Why do you say that?” Oh, yeah, _very_ nonchalant.

“Like I said. I _know you._ And don’t think I don’t know what you were trying to do earlier too.” Alice said pointedly.

“Oh.” It seemed Robin hadn't been as inconspicuous as she thought.

“Yes.” Alice smiled kindly at her and then become very serious again. “It doesn’t matter whom I’m dating, you’ll always be my best friend. You’ll always come first to me. You know that, right?” She finished looking straight into Robin’s eyes.

Oh.

_Oh._

So turns out Alice hadn’t really caught on Robin’s reasons behind her jealousy. Robin couldn’t think past the loud noise of blood rushing through her ears. Although she still could come up with a lot of excuses to not tell Alice about her feelings, this right here seemed like the perfect opportunity to do so.

Maybe the universe was trying to send her a signal.

Alice was looking at her expectantly with a glint in her eye that Robin couldn’t really identify. She opened her mouth to say _something;_ she just wasn’t sure _what_ it was going to be yet. And then there was a loud knock on her door.

Story of her life.

Robin closed her mouth with a sigh.

“Come in.” Alice called loudly when Robin didn’t say anything and she watched as her mom walked in with Killian in tow.

“So, how was the movie?” Killian asked stopping beside Alice and resting a hand on her shoulder.

“Cool.”

“Boring.” They said at the same time. 

“I thought you’ve been dying to watch this one?” Alice turned to look at Robin.

“Oh,” Robin said, trying to think of something quick. “You know... I was. But the book was better.” Is what she ended up saying and thank God Alice bought that; she should really find out if there was a book.

“Anyway,” Zelena said, drawing their attention back to her. “Killian and I have been talking about that little plan of yours.”

“Really?” Robin straightened up; with the past few weeks’ events the big fight she had had with her mom had been sent to the back of her mind and she hadn’t really thought about that until now.

She and Alice finally had the talk with their parents about wanting to take a gap year to travel instead of going immediately to college after high school. And just like they had anticipated, Zelena had hated the idea, yelled at Robin and prohibited them to go; so Robin had obviously begun a fight with her mom that led them both to go a couple of days absolutely not talking to each other. And that was when Killian intervened and said he would talk to Zelena and they would _think about it._

“Yes, really.” It really looked like it pained Killian to say that. And although that wasn’t a good look on him, it also meant that he didn’t like what they were going to say next, which meant that Robin and Alice would probably like it, because there was no way Robin was going all around the world without Alice on her side. So if Killian didn’t like it, it must mean they were going.

Robin held her breath.

“First off, there’s going to be rules you two must abide if you really want to go.” Killian started and Robin _knew_ it.

Alice fist pumped and squealed before literally jumping on top of Robin.

“Nobin! We are going! We’re going, Nobin!” Robin couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling out of her even if she were trying to.

She hugged Alice closer and tried to ignore the flutter on her stomach.

“As we were saying,” Zelena announced loudly; pointedly ignoring the way Robin and Alice were celebrating while still hugging on the bed. “There are rules.” She kept going when the girls finally disentangled from one another and turned to look at her, still smiling like fools. “Your grades must be perfect until the end of the school year. No discussion.”

“And you must agree to keep us updated whenever you move from one place to another.” Killian said next.

“You must call us at least twice a week.”

“And you have to avoid attracting attention to yourselves at all times.”

“There are paparazzi and maniacs everywhere in the world, let’s keep that in mind.” Zelena completed.

“You will also be attending the self-defense classes we already enrolled both of you in.” Killian said seriously. There was no getting out of that one. “And no, Robin. You won’t be able to take your bow with you, that’s literally a weapon and I would feel a hundred times better if you were carrying it with you.”

“But we also want to avoid an international incident since I’m pretty sure you won’t want to take the private jet and the people at the airports won’t be too fond of it.” Zelena finished for him.

“Wow.” Robin said when it seemed like they were finally finished.

“Did you both rehearse this?” Alice asked giggling beside Robin.

“I need you both to be serious right now. Otherwise, we won’t be able to come to an agreement.” Zelena scolded and Robin and Alice quickly stopped their laughter and exchanged the expressions on their face to the one they used when they were in some sort of official event and had to be serious when they wanted to be silly.

“Alright.” Robin said. “We agree to all that.” Alice nodded. “Good thing you didn’t mention a bodyguard because we won’t be taking one with us.” Robin looked straight at her mother at that, no way she was agreeing to all that only for her mom to thrust a large man in a suit on them at the last possible moment just so they wouldn’t have the time to argue.

“Fine by me.” Zelena agreed like she didn’t care at all and Robin narrowed her eyes. “Now, we can figure all logistics later. We’ll leave you to celebrate as I know you’re dying to.”

They waited until the door closed behind Killian and Zelena before speaking next.

“I reckon they are going to send someone to follow us.” Alice said amused, she was looking at Robin with the biggest, happiest smile Robin had ever seen and she couldn’t help but to smile too.

“They so are. And they think they’re being subtle about it too.” Robin snorted.

“Right? The way neither your mom nor my Papa even tried to argue.”  Alice rolled over to stare at Robin, still smiling and Robin had to pretend like the butterflies on her stomach were being subtle too.

“But that’s good. They will probably send someone that will try to be discreet. It’s better than a mountain in a suit breathing down our necks.”

Alice laughed at that and Robin suddenly remembered what they were talking before they were interrupted. Better yet, what she was trying and failing to tell Alice. It had really slipped her mind, but now she was wondering if maybe all those interruptions weren’t actually something like a sign from the heavens that she really shouldn’t do it.

And now there was their trip to consider too. They would spend so many months together in foreign places. What if Robin only made it awkward by telling? What if the part of her that thought that Alice absolutely didn’t feel the same was right? What if…

“Hey.” Alice touched her finger to the tip of Robin’s nose. “Where did you go?”

“Sorry," Robin whispered turning on her side to mimic Alice's position.

This close, Robin could see every single detail of her face. The shape of her eyebrows that needed to be plucked. The blue of her eyes was especially bright like this; and-

“Nobin.” Alice called softly. “You spaced out again.” She scooted even closer and now, if Robin wanted to, she could just tilt her head forward and their noses would be touching. Or they lips. “What is it?” Alice asked, her words tickling Robin’s cheek.

And this could be Robin’s chance, right? She could just say the words and be done with it. Whatever may happen next could happen; at least she would have said it.

But then, how awful would that be. To throw something like that Alice’s way when she was already in a relationship. She hadn’t taken _that_ into consideration before. And yes, that was at least seventy five percent an excuse, but also a very reasonable thing to think about.

Robin swallowed the lump on her throat, and looked down, away from Alice’s eyes. She wouldn’t be able to lie if Alice were looking at her like that. “Sorry.” She cleared her throat trying to make her voice not sound so strained. “I was just thinking about our trip, you know?” She tried for a smile.

“Oh.” Alice breathed. Why did Robin think that she sounded disappointed now?

***

Alice’s and Anna relationship lasted for four (hellish, accordingly to Robin) weeks.

The day of the break-up Alice came to find Robin at the Archery Range at school, which wasn’t so odd. The weirdest thing was that she wasn’t smiling like she usually did and her eyes were looking kind of puffy. Robin immediately set her bow down and jogged the few feet of space between them to reach Alice.

“What’s wrong?” Robin asked as soon as she was close enough to be heard because something definitely was wrong and the thought sent a pang of worry through Robin’s chest.

Alice immediately slipped her arms around Robin's waist and buried her face on the crook of Robin’s neck. They went home early that day; her instructor didn’t even blink when Robin told him she was leaving, just like that. She may or may not have thrown her aunt’s name around a bit.

Luckily they didn’t run on anyone else when they got home and Robin sent Alice to her bedroom while she ran to the kitchen to grab a few things. When Robin finally got to her own room, she found Alice sitting in the middle of the bed hugging a pillow to her chest and looking decisively miserable. 

Robin had really expected to be overjoyed when Alice and Anna finally weren’t a thing anymore. It’s seemed that she was selling herself short. Since Alice had came to find her earlier that day she hadn’t felt any happier than she was before; seeing Alice like that only made her chest ache and she wanted to do anything to take away that look from her best friend’s face.

“C’mon. You can’t be looking that glum, sugar plum.” She announced brightly while she too climbed onto the bed and was incredibly proud to see that she had managed to make Alice’s lip tug up in a small smile.

They settled against the headboard, cuddling and sharing the ice cream Robin had grabbed at the kitchen. There was a marathon of Criminal Minds going on the first channel that caught their attention and that was what they watched. Robin and Alie spent the next few hours half paying attention to the episode playing on the TV and half talking about random things that came to mind; pointedly avoiding any talks related to Alice’s ex-girlfriend.

“Are you going to tell me what happened now?” Robin prodded several episodes later when all the ice cream was gone.

“Nope.” Alice gave the same answer she had earlier.

Robin could admit that the curiosity was killing her, but she also would respect the fact that Alice didn’t want to talk about it.

“C’mere.” She lifted an arm and opened her legs and waited for Alice to settle with her back to Robin’s front; she hugged Alice from behind and rested her head on Alices's shoulder.

“Alice.” Robin whispered during a commercial break a few minutes later.

“What?” Alice whispered back.

“What’s the difference between a snowman and a snowwoman?”

“Huh?” Robin could just picture her creased brow and the look of confusion on Alice's face.

Robin waited for a beat before answering, building the anticipation.

“The snowballs.” She said finally and the sound of Alice laughing out loud at her stupid joke made her heart soar.

Everything was going to be okay.

* * *

 

_Here goes nothing._

Robin thought as Noah opened the door of the car and she stepped out, turning to offer a hand to Alice to help her get out the car too.

It had been eight days since they had came back to Storybrooke, and seven days since the press release confirming their (fake) relationship had been issued. The internet had gone nuts at that and it was a good thing that neither Alice nor Robin was very adept of social media. Henry had started collecting all sorts of pieces of news reports about them; not that there was a lot of information per se, but the media wasn’t afraid of being repetitive _or_ inventive.

A small newspaper in England announced _The Real Reason behind the new Royal Wedding: Princess Robin was pregnant and getting married to Alice Jones to cover it up._ A very long and ridiculous headline that didn’t make any sense, mind you. The press release Regina had issued hadn’t even said anything about a wedding. That one was Zelena’s favorite apparently, simply because it was just so ludicrous and bizarre that it managed to give her a _full belly laugh_ while reading it.

Some others, more respectable news outlets had actually written a few pieces about how their relationship was a _beacon of hope for the LGBT youth,_ and how Princess Robin was really _a good influence_ or something other equally exaggerated. They hadn’t done nearly anything worth of phrases like that. What other newspapers and magazines published were mostly just unfounded gossips that no one actually believed but read anyway.

Robin _knew_ they were doing this for a good cause, but they hadn’t even done anything besides release a statement confirming their relationship and it had already become a circus that they didn't have any hope of controlling. One thing Regina had been right about at least; the confirmation of their relationship had also brought the spotlight back to her campaign. A good thing too, since that was the whole point of going further with this charade.

_Right?_

The sound of what looked like a thousand reporters calling Robin and Alice’s names snapped Robin’s attention back to the red-carpet and the reality of what they were about to do finally dawned on Robin, making her stomach drop with anxiety. This was the first public event that Robin and Alice were attending together since the rumors about their relationship started, and if she already weren’t a fan of being out in public like this, right now this one was making her feel positively queasy.

Since the press release was issued, Regina had made sure that no reporter was able to reach neither Alice nor Robin. The only calls she was accepting were the ones related to her campaign and even then she would talk only about it and then refuse to delve into Robin and Alice’s personal lives. But now, they were walking right into the wolves’ den and there was no escaping it. This was their chance to truly sell their relationship, there couldn’t be any slip-ups here; no mistakes. Robin suddenly wished she was back in her bedroom with Alice, watching something or another on the TV instead of being a pile of nerves in a fancy dress.

“Breathe," Alice said low enough that only Robin could hear it and squeezed her hand in assurance.

Right. There was no more postponing this. With a last, deep breath, Robin squared her shoulders and put on an almost sincere, albeit nervous smile and started her walk down the red-carpet with Alice trailing beside her, their hands firmly joined.

The flash of the cameras had been trying to blind them since Alice and Robin has stepped out of the car but they bravely soldiered through it and stopped only a couple of times to smile and wave but never to talk with the press and soon they were safe from the worst of the paparazzi inside the venue. There was soft music coming from somewhere and Robin took in a deep breath while Alice relaxed beside her; now they only had to survive the more subtle, “real” journalists that were allowed to roam inside the venue and mingle with the other guests.

Regina had told them about this beneficent auction they were supposed to attend only the day before. She had only been able to talk Alice and Robin into it on the grounds that the money raised there would go to charity and they needed someone to represent the Royal Family ; conveniently she and Emma had already other plans and wouldn't be able to attend. Though Henry and Ella did tell them they would be coming too just when Alice and Robin were about to leave. So it shouldn't be too bad.

That thought left just as fast as it came when Robin noticed a man in a tux approaching them. He introduced himself as Mark Robinson, a reporter from The Mirror and Robin just sighed while Alice smiled politely at the man.

Tonight would be a long night.

***

At first, Robin wasn’t too certain, but after the third time this girl had touched her arm she was at least sixty percent sure that she was flirting with Robin.

Like, Robin wasn’t _that_ funny, was she? Then why was this girl laughing so much? And Robin’s gaydar was definitely picking on a vibe so it wasn’t too farfetched to assume that the girl was, in fact, flirting.

Alice had disappeared five minutes ago to go get them something to drink and in the meantime, this girl, Luna she said her name was, approached Robin. Alice and Robin had just managed to dodge more journalists and Robin took one look at this girl walking towards her and braced herself to a few more minutes of idle chit chat followed by inane questions. She was already exhausted if she were being honest.

But then, what happened next was absolutely not what she was expecting.

Luna approached Robin with a big smile, complimenting her on her dress and smirking and touching Robin’s arm far more than one should do with someone that they had met literally five minutes ago. Don’t get Robin wrong, she wasn’t actually complaining; Luna was very pretty and Robin was very gay too, so. But she also wasn’t going to flirt back with her for the simple reason that the only person she could think about was her best friend who was certainly _not_ in love with her.

Probably.

Where was Alice, anyway?

Luna was blonde and had a very pleasant voice coupled with a nice smile and Robin could admit that she was at least a little bit attracted to her right now. It’s not like she would actually do something about it but it wouldn’t hurt to-

A hand on Robin’s back startled her and immediately put a stop to her train of thought, she was about to take a step away from whoever was it that was invading her personal space when she recognized the perfume and realized that it was Alice. And sure enough the next second she could feel a cool flute of something being pressed into her hand.

“Hi!” She could hear Alice saying to Luna and she turned her face to be able to look at her. Alice was stiff beside her and standing closer to Robin than she had been before and Robin wondered if something was wrong. Maybe a journalist had bothered her while she was getting the drinks...?

“Oh, hey, hello.” Luna said somewhat awkwardly while she gave Robin and Alice a strange smile and the three of them were silent for a moment before Robin realized that she should probably introduce the other two next.

“Erm,” She cleared her throat. “Alice, this is Luna. She was telling me about that cool sword being auctioned. The one we saw earlier.” She heard Alice hum along and kept going, turning to Luna now and feeling Alice’s fingers clinging to the fabric of the dress on her back. “Luna, this is Alice, she’s my...” And here’s where her brain sort of started lagging.

Robin was going to say that Alice was her best friend but then remembered that they were supposed to be a couple and then ended up saying nothing instead.

“Her girlfriend.” Alice completed for her when it became obvious that Robin wasn’t going to.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Luna said politely and Robin noticed that her smile wasn’t as sincere as it had been a minute ago.

“It’s a pleasure.” Alice too had on a strained smile on her face and Robin made a mental note to ask her what had happened while she was getting them drinks.

And then there was that awkward silence again. And why was it so awkward in the first place, anyway? Robin was racking her brain for something to say when they were saved from the heavy silence that hung around them, despite the song faintly playing in the background and the noise of the other attendees, by a voice announcing that the real auction would be starting soon and if they intended to bid on something they should move on to the other room.

_Thank heaven for small mercies._ Robin thought as Luna hastily said goodbye to them and scurried to the other room. That was odd too and Robin couldn’t help but think that she was _missing_ something. Alice noticed Henry waving for them across the room and she and Robin slowly made their way towards him and Ella.

Henry and Robin had strict orders from Regina to buy something pricey. Her aunt had said that she didn’t care what they bought just as long as they helped the cause by spending a lot of money that would go to various charities all over the kingdom. Henry was set on buying this old book he saw being exhibited earlier but Robin was still waiting for something to catch her eye.

“That girl was flirting with you.” Alice stated when they were still a few meters away from Henry and Ella.

“She wasn’t.” Robin frowned and halted on her steps effectively stopping Alice too and turning so they were face to face.

“Yes, she was.” Alice kept insisting for some reason and okay, Robin did think the girl was being _flirty_ but that wasn’t the issue here. Alice had been acting weird since coming back with their drinks and Robin wanted to know why.

“I wasn’t interested.” She said dismissively and failed to notice the way Alice’s instance relaxed immediately after that. “What happened?”

“What?” Alice frowned confused by the question.

“You went to grab us some drinks and when you came back you were acting all weird.” Robin explained while she briefly looked down at the untouched flute of champagne on her hand.

“Oh," Alice said and Robin worried even more.

“Did a journalist bother you? Or did someone say-”

“Robin.” Alice interrupted her rambling and grabbed Robin’s unoccupied hand on her own, smiling genuinely now. “Nothing happened. I’m okay.” Robin seemed like she wanted to keep pressing the matter but Alice beat her to it. “Honestly.” She assured. “Now let’s go. Henry is making faces at us.” And so she resumed their walk towards Henry, pulling a confused Robin behind her by their joined hands.

Robin noticed how Alice was light and carefree once again and wondered what had made her nervous a minute ago and what had changed now. In the very back of her mind, a small voice suggested that maybe Alice could have been jealous when she saw Robin with Luna, but the more rational part of her brain shut that idea down quickly. No, there really must have been something else; or maybe not, sometimes Alice was like this too. And so for the rest of the night Robin didn’t allow herself to think about it anymore; not until they were back home, safe in the darkness of Robin’s room, and only then did she let her mind wander.

They ended up buying the book Henry wanted, and Robin started a bidding war for a painting that Alice mentioned that she had liked. Aunt Regina would be proud; not only did they buy two of the most expensive items of the night, but they even put on a (discreet) show for the paparazzi while they were leaving the venue, walking with their hands clasped together while they were laughing and leaning on each other.

Robin was also pretty sure that that had been at least a hundred pictures snapped of the moment Alice leaned on her chair to give Robin a peck on the cheek after she had given the winning bid on that painting; though she knew Alice hadn’t meant that to part of this whole charade.

Knowing it was genuine was the only reason for Robin to save one of those pictures on her phone from The Mirror website later that night too.

* * *

 

It was the night before Christmas Eve of their senior year and the whole Palace was decorated in green and red; there was a giant tree in the Great Room, tinsel and string lights everywhere, garlands at the stairs banisters and everything. It had been like that since November First because Lucy was very excited about Christmas.

Alice’s room though, was a mess of wrapping paper; thogh most were torn and creased and tossed on the floor. Alice herself was in a frenzy, sitting at her desk and making her best to wrap as neatly as possible an assortment of different gifts she had been putting off until last minute.

Robin had been banished to the bed a half hour ago and prohibited from commenting on Alice’s wrapping skills.

“Hey, is Johnathan still bothering you?” Robin asked out of nowhere, remembering a conversation they had dropped earlier that week.

Alice paused in her attempt to wrap a book for Lucy and turned on her chair to look at Robin. “Yeah.” She frowned.

“We should report him when we go back to school after the break.”

“I know.”  Alice sighed and turned on her chair again. “I just had hoped he would've stopped by now.”

Robin hummed

“I will threaten him with my bow next time. Let's see how he likes that.” She told Alice, meaning it.

“C'mon.”

“You think I won't?” Robin sat up on the bed to stare at Alice’s back.

“I know you will.” Alice finally managed to tape the paper neatly in the corner of the book. “I just don't want you getting in trouble.”

Robin scoffed. “I won’t.” Though Alice didn’t answer her after that and she got that this particular conversation was over for now. “Are you done yet?” Robin asked instead, in the annoying way she had been doing for the past thirty minutes.

“ _Shhhh_. I’m concentrating.”

Robin laughed not unkindly but finally became quiet after that and they basked in the comfortable silence that followed while Alice worked.

Another half an hour later and Robin was in that peaceful state between almost falling asleep and being barely awake when she registered the mattress dipping beside her.

“Are you asleep? It’s not even half past nine.” Alice said loudly and Robin felt all trace of sleep evade her.

“Not anymore.” She deadpanned with her eyes still closed. “Are you done yet?”

“Yep.” Alice said popping the p and reaching over Robin’s torso for the remote. “What do you want to watch?”

“Whatever is on TV is fine.” Robin finally opened her eyes to look at Alice.

Alice hummed and settled on her back before pressing a button on the remote and turning on the TV. She only had to flick through a few channels before she found one that was halfway through playing the first Home Alone and then she abandoned the remote in favor of tugging a blanket over their bodies.

“What did you get me?” Robin asked.

“Not telling you, Nobin.”

“ _C’mon,"_ Robin whined. “Tell me and I’ll tell you what I got you.”

Alice gave Robin one of her crooked smiles.

“Stop being a brat and watch the movie. You’re worse than Lucy.”

Robin gasped exaggeratedly and lifted a hand to clutch at her chest dramatically.

“How dare you?” She managed to be serious for half a second before bursting into laughter. Alice could feel the corners of her lips tugging up.

“Stop it. I want to watch the movie.” She tried to look serious but mostly failed at that, Robin noticed while she fought a smile.

“I want to know what my present will be.”

Alice mimicked zipping her lips and smirked at Robin before pointedly turning to face the TV.

Robin huffed.

Alice was nowhere near prepared for the body that was suddenly flung over hers or the fingers poking her on the ribs; she squealed loudly and was unable to stop her laughter as she tried to push Robin’s hands away.

“Say it, Tower Girl!” Robin said putting on a fake deep voice and not relenting on her attack.

“Never!” Alice answered as she managed to grab one of Robin’s hands and quickly tried to retaliate by poking her fingers on Robin’s ribs too.

"No!" Robin yelled in the middle of her own laughter; she let go of Alice’s ribs to try and stop Alice's own attack on her and in their fumbling, they both lost balance and tumbled out of the edge of the bed, somehow managing to not injure themselves when they fell down in a heap on the floor. That effectively put a stop to their tickling war.

“You’re too heavy, Tower Girl.” Robin wheezed; she had fallen on her back and Alice had landed right on top of her.

“You make for a nice cushion, Nobin.” Alice lifted herself up on her elbows and looked down on Robin still laughing. She smiled down at her best friend and Robin smiled softly back at her, Alice felt a strange tug on her heartstrings and for a second she wondered just what kind of moment they were having. And then a loud noise coming from the TV made Robin look away, and whatever moment was it, was surely gone.

***

“It’s a painting.” Alice said quietly sometime after their laughter had died down and they had moved back to the bed.

Robin turned to look at her with furrowed brows in confusion. “What?” She asked still half paying attention to the movie that had actually picked her interest now.

“Your present. It’s a painting I made for you.” Alice answered looking down at her hands while she fidgeted with the bracelet on her wrist.

“I thought it was going to be a surprise.” Robin was still very confused and shifted to be able to look fully at Alice.

“I know I said that. It’s just...” Alice trailed off and worried her bottom lip in between her teeth and Robin could read all the signs of when something was making her anxious.

“What’s going on, Tower Girl?” She gently placed a hand on top of Alice’s where she was still fiddling with her bracelet and waited until Alice was looking back at her too, though Alice just shrugged and kept avoiding Robin’s eyes. “I know how excited you are for Christmas this year and I just don’t want you to be disappointed that I made you a painting instead of getting you a real present-”

“Are you joking?” Robin sat up. “Alice, please look at me.” She asked gently and waited again until Alice did look up at her. “I’ve seen your paintings before. You’re a genius! And I just know whatever is it you painted me is going to be great because it’s _from_ you, okay? C’mon, give me a nod.”

Alice finally gave Robin a shake of her head, though the corners of her lips were tugging up in a small smile. it was not her usual crooked smile, but they were getting there. “If anything, your present will just make mine look stupid now.” Robin continued. “I got you a wristwatch.” She mumbled the last part but Alice still could hear her words well.

“Don’t say that. You know how much I love those.” Alice said; now she was the one trying to reassure Robin.

“I know. It’s vintage and all that.” Robin laughed and then became serious for half a moment before she was smirking at Alice. “So… are you going to tell me what is it that you painted me or…?”

Alice just rolled her eyes and chuckled at Robin’s antics.

***

Alice was suddenly startled wake, her eyes opened to the faint darkness of her room and she noticed that TV was still on though no sound was coming from it; Robin must had probably muted it when Alice fell asleep.

The alarm clock on her bedside table was showing that it was a bit past three in the morning and Alice had no idea what had awakened her until a noise to her right made she turn sharply to find Robin fast asleep and mumbling some gibberish one her sleep. That was not an unusual occurrence; in the years since they had met and the countless sleepovers they had shared, Alice had grown used to this habit of Robin’s. Sometimes she had whole conversations with herself while sleeping and other times she just murmured nonsense to no one in particular. Alice made it a point to remember it in the morning to tease Robin.

Alice yawned and nuzzled back on her pillow to try and go back to sleep, but realized that she was hogging the blankets, again. She scooted closer to Robin’s body and shook the blanket until it was covering them both; Robin made a little sleepy sound then turned and threw an arm over Alice’s torso, snuggling closer.

And then, a thought so sudden struck Alice that she didn't even realize that she was saying it out loud until she heard her own voice saying the words.

“God, I’m so in love with this girl.”

It didn’t even truly register for her until a few seconds later and then it was as if everything had suddenly fallen into place. It wasn’t even a surprise for her because as soon as she said that she recognized the words as being true. The real surprise was that she hadn’t spotted it earlier.

Everything else started to make sense too. All the little things Alice always excused as being just common occurrences among friends. Like, how many people had butterflies on their stomach when their best friend was near? And all the other times she had caught herself daydreamed about kissing Robin again since that first time.

Honestly, it had been obvious from the beginning and Alice wondered how truly oblivious could she be. How long had she been in love without realizing what that was?

But when did this happen though?

Was it when they were fourteen years old and sharing their first kiss? Or have it _always_ been like this? Or had she been put on this world to love this one specific person? Had she always been in love or was it like one day her heart decided that Robin would be the one for her and her brain had just taken its sweet time to catch up?

Or maybe it was a little bit of everything.

Alice laid in bed staring at the ceiling and listening to Robin’s faint snores and low mumbles; how do you simply go about your day as usual when something so fundamental about yourself had shifted like that?

It was the cliché _st_ of clichés. To fall in love with your best friend like this.

Alice was seventeen years old and she hadn’t the foggiest clue about what she wanted to study in college and do with her life in general, and she was supposed to know  _that_. Yet, the only thing she was truly sure of was that _that_ was the girl she wished to spend the rest of her life with.

And that was a scary thought, wasn't it? Because teenagers weren't supposed to be sure of anything after all, as controversial as that was.

And here was something that Alice found kind of funny; realizing that she was in love with her best friend hadn’t been scary at all. Not even the thought of Robin not feeling the same way too. Because even if she didn’t, one thing Alice _knew_ with all of her being, was the inevitability of the two of them. They could walk through their whole lives together as friends and that would be enough. No, what truly scared her was the thought that this whole being in love could be simply a fleeting teenager thing that could just as easily vanish one day.

They could get together only to realize that they were adults and that this wasn’t _it_ for them.

No, that wouldn’t be, she shook her head; being in love with Robin Mills was one of those immutable facts about herself; like she was Alice Jones, she had blue eyes and she was in love with her best friend.

She damn well was going to do something about it.

But perhaps she should await until she was sure that Robin felt at least something too, _right?_

***

They actually ended up exchanging their presents a bit before midnight on Christmas’ Eve. Alice was just too self-conscious to have Robin unwrap her present in front of everyone else.

Over the course of more or less a week, Alice had put in a couple of hours every day to finish a watercolor painting she had made based on a sketch of Robin with her bow and an arrow ready to fly during one of her tournaments. It usually wouldn’t take her this long to complete a painting, but she had wanted this one to be perfect and she wouldn’t settle for less. She had even put it on a real frame and everything.

Robin had been silent from the moment she had finished unwrapping the painting and Alice was really worried that she had actually, despite her words from the other day, hated it.

That hadn’t been the case at all.

Alice’s painting was now proudly perched on the wall of Robin’s room, right above her bed.

* * *

  

Previous to being roped into fake dating her best friend whom she was very much in love with, Robin was actually trying to figure out a way to tell said best friend about her very much real feelings.

Makes you really want to believe in destiny, huh?

Being in a capital R relationship with Alice was everything she ever dreamed of, and boy, did she dream about it. And now every time Alice jokingly referred to them as being a couple, Robin got this bundle of confusing emotions that made the butterflies permanently moved into her stomach dance happily. It also made her blood kind of boil and an irrational frustration fill her in ways hard to conceal.

Because this last month pretending to only pretend to be in love had been hard. And emotionally taxing. And as much as she liked to also pretend that the moments they were faking were real, something in the back of her mind was always there telling her that _no, it wasn’t_. Except that all of those moments were very, _very_ much real. Because they weren’t really pretending, were they?

Robin was confusing herself.

All those times they walked hand in hand for show, it was something they had always done since they were kids. Every time Robin gave Alice her jacket when she was cold, or opened the door for her, she  had always done that, too. Even before she realized how deeply in love she actually was. And that’s not to mention all those times, in those official events aunt Regina had pushed them to go and that they had to pretend to be a young couple madly in love. You guessed it; they weren’t actually faking it, right?

And there were all those other little things too; like sharing a bed and walking with their arms around one another. Cheeky kisses that looked very _couply_. _Moony_ eyes across crowded rooms. And that’s a whole other thing; when you’re piling up all this “evidence” it was easy to reach a conclusion that Robin wished with every fiber of her being was the right one.

Let’s talk about all the times they had slept inside each other arms; came inside a bathroom to brush their teeth while the other was showering. And when you add up all the other little things they did for each other, everyone was like _here’s a couple_.

Except, that they weren’t.

But most of the time they kind of were. And that was so damn confusing. It was harder than Alice’s unsolvable puzzles that they still would try to solve anyway and it just made Robin’s brain hurt after a while.

So _excuse_ Robin for taking Henry’s very harmless comment a little harder than she would if she were in her right mind and not being eaten alive by her own personal dilemma; and then storming past everyone to get out of the room as soon as possible, shaking her head when she noticed that Alice was getting up to follow her.

Though she didn’t really register the way the conversation suddenly died and everyone stared. She did choose to ignore Alice’s frown. Honestly, she loved Alice, (and wasn’t that how all this whole shitshow started?) but her worried frown directed at Robin was the last thing she needed to deal with on top of all the confusion she was already trying to sort through right then.

Robin didn’t even know where her feet were carrying her until she was out of the Palace, stalking across the gardens to the indoor archery range that had been set up for her to practice when she joined the archery team in high school.

The large space used to be a shed, extended and repurposed to hold a number of different types of targets distributed at various angles and distances since she was the only one to ever use the place. Robin was immediately shooting arrow after arrow as soon as she stepped inside and found her bow; trying to release her frustration every time she released the string to let an arrow fly.

Robin hadn't remembered to find her gloves before starting but the sting on her fingers was hardly bothering her anyway. She heard the door behind her opening and then closing softly with a click and with the corner of her eyes she noticed how Alice just stopped halfway between where she was and the door, like she was kind of lost. Robin was actually expecting Alice to had come and find her a lot sooner; it had been at least an hour since she had stormed out and she briefly wondered how Alice managed to wait for that long. 

Robin’s arms were actually sore now; she was still trying to get back in shape after all the time she spent away and not practicing. At least the ache on her fingers was barely noticeable anymore. She had worked her way through so many arrows that she was running out but she also didn’t want to stop to go get more; she needed this distraction while Alice was in the room with her. Although she had already worked out most of her frustration, she still really needed to keep busy and stop her mind from going into overdrive again.

Alice was silent for a few minutes; she was just standing there quietly watching Robin’s practiced movements with her brows furrowed and her arms wrapped around herself in a sort of protective stance, Robin noticed with the corner of her eyes again but chose not to say anything.

“We should put a stop to this whole charade.” Alice said so suddenly that Robin startled right when she was about to release the next arrow and accidentally made it fly up and lodge itself in one of the wooden beams of the ceiling.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you miss one.” Alice stated conversationally as if she hadn't just dropped a bomb on Robin.

“What?” Robin turned around completely to look at her, lowering her bow and rolling her shoulders back to try and ease a bit of the soreness already settling there.

“I said I never saw you miss-”

“No. What you said before.” Robin took a step towards Alice, stopping halfway because she didn’t know what she would do when they were close again.

“Oh. I said we should stop this charade.” Alice repeated looking down at her hands while she fiddled with the bracelets on her arm.

“Why?” Robin asked, feeling so many emotions at the same time that it was impossible to even identify any of them.

“Is the thought of being in a relationship with me really so disturbing?" Alice's question came out of nowhere and left Robin feeling like she had been punched in the stomach.

“What?” Robin said again, souding a bit like a broken record. It was almost like they were having two different conversations, but she only knew about one.

“What Henry said just now, about us…” Alice took in a deep breath, finally looking up in Robin’s direction, although she was still avoiding eye contact. “I mean, this whole month we’ve been doing this _let’s pretend we’re dating_ thing. And though at the beginning it was kinda fun, it got old pretty fast when I-”

“Alice,” Robin took another step forward, unsure of what to say or to do. “I...”

“No.” Alice cut Robin before she could even figure out what was it that she was going to say. “I know how you sometimes need your own space and how you always keep everything so close to your chest. I also know that this month has been crazier than that time with the ayahuasca root, but I just-"Alice's voice cracked then and she shook her head drawing in a deep breath. "You stormed out of the room when Henry joked about us, like... I don’t even know. So, is the thought of dating me really so disgusting to you?” Alice finished her speech staring down at Robin again; her shoulders slumped like she was trying to make herself smaller. Like she was trying to protect herself.

And something inside Robin finally snapped; she was suddenly too exhausted to keep up with her own little charade, to keep hidden the thing that was always threatening to spill out every time Alice got close or smiled in her direction, or- or anytime Alice did _anything_ if she were being honest.

Robin wanted to be close, closer when she let go of all the truth she wanted to tell, but she also had the need to protect herself too. Because as much as she wanted to believe that Alice felt the same as her, she couldn’t help but dismiss all that evidence as simply wishful thinking and if that were really the case, maybe the few feet of distance between them would be enough to at least lessen the blow.

“As smart as you are, you really got this whole thing wrong didn’t you, Tower Girl?” Robin spoke finally, trying to sort through all the thoughts on her head, but kept going before Alice could interrupt. “It’s the opposite, actually.” She paused again to take in a deep breath and finally allow herself to make eye contact with Alice. “The thing about fake dating your best friend that no one warns you against is that you really shouldn’t do it when you are, in fact, in love with your best friend.” Robin chuckled humorlessly. “It comes with a great deal of internal turmoil that is not really good for the heart.”

“Oh.” Was all Alice said after a beat and that word hung around them like that thick kind of fog that makes it hard to breathe. And _oh shit_ that white-hot feeling on Robin’s chest. So that’s how a heartbreaking felt then.

Robin thought that she was in shock; her body all at once growing cold except for that burning feeling on her chest and her eyes. She had imagined a million different scenarios; different ways to tell Alice how she felt and another million ways she could have reacted. The reality was worse than the worst thing her imagination could have conjured, and that was the one where Alice would simply punch her on the face or outwardly just laugh on her face.

_Shit_.

Robin took in a deep breath as if that would stop the pain on her chest. It at least stopped her tears from spilling.

She always knew very well that that was a possibility; that Alice probably didn’t feel the same as her. In fact, she had thought that she was fully prepared for that particular outcome.

It would seem that she really wasn’t.

Because right now it felt like her insides were being ripped apart and not in a metaphorical way either. Did you ever have your heart break so much that you actually feel real pain? A white-hot kind of pain that starts on your chest and leaves you feeling like you are hollow? That must have shown on Robin’s face, because the next thing she knew Alice was crashing on her and pulling her closer, squeezing Robin tight while Robin’s own arms were hanging limply by her side.

Not even the warmth that usually enveloped Robin whenever Alice was near could make her heartbreak seem less real right now.

“Robin, no.” Alice murmured on her neck and even then it was like Robin was still in shock.

“Robin...” Alice took a step back and lifted her arms to cup Robin's face on both her hands. “Please look at me.” She asked in a small voice and even then it wasn’t like Robin could ever deny her anything.

She swallowed the lump on her throat and finally made herself look down at Alice’s face, but instead of the pity she was certain that she would find there, Alice was actually smiling?

“You’re looking at me. Good.” Alice squeezed her cheeks slightly. “Now, I know what you’re thinking, Robin Mills. And let me tell you, you can really be incredibly dense sometimes. And you have the gall to call me the oblivious one.”

“Wh-” Robin opened her mouth to speak, but Alice quickly placed a finger to her lips to shut her up.

“It’s my turn to speak now. Okay?” Robin nodded and Alice removed her finger. “Good.”  But instead of keep talking, Alice stepped closer again so their bodies were flush against one another and, _oh_.

Alice's lips were on Robin’s before she could even process it then it was too late because Robin’s brain had already short-circuited.

“What, what are you doing?” Robin asked without opening her eyes when their lips parted for a moment.

“CPR. I thought you were dying.” Alice deadpanned.

“Wh-”

Alice smiled softly and touched Robin’s forehead with hers. “I’ve been in love with you for a while now.” She said calmly.

“You have?” For someone that had been waiting so long for this moment, Robin was having a bit of trouble believing this was real.

“Yeah.” Alice sighed before pulling Robin into another kiss, and then another and then one more just because she could.

Robin’s arms were wrapped around Alice’s waist and she refused to let go, she was pretty sure that this was a dream and if it really was, she would hold tight onto it for as long as possible.

“Why-?”

Alice sighed and squeezed her eyes closed. “I needed us to be on the same page on this.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’ve always kept your feelings close to your chest, I said that. You had your walls up and I don’t think you ever realized it. The day I knew I was in love with you I also knew you weren’t there yet with me, so I waited.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long.” Robin sighed closing her eyes for a moment.

“It’s okay, love. We both needed it, I reckon.”

“We could have been doing this for a long time now.” She whispered with her lips close to Alice’s before pulling her into a deep kiss that left them both a bit breathless.

“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”

“Why didn’t you?”

From all the kissing they’ve been doing just now, _this_ had been the thing that made Robin blush.

“We’re both idiots.” She said barely holding in the exhilarating laughter that wanted to escape her mouth.

“Yeah.” Alice agreed. “But now that we’re finally together I’m never letting go of  you anymore.”

“Never?”

“Nope. Get used to it; you’re stuck with me forever.” Alice smiled her patented crooked smile and Robin looked a bit smitten.

“Good.” Robin smiled too.

“Yeah. We can be idiots together. " Alice said matter-of-factly with her mouth still too close to Robin's; she could feel the words tickling her lips. Alice stopped just when their lips were about to touch and Robin already had her eyes closed again. "Although if you weren't so stubborn, I reckon you could be my princess charming."

Her own laughter was what stopped them from kissing then.

***

“I realized I was in love with you when we were eighteen, you know. We were sitting at the tower in the middle of the night and you were eating all that candy." Robin stopped to take in a deep breath. "But I think I actually have always been. In love with you, I mean. It just took me a while to realize.” Robin said while she was running the tip of her finger on Alice’s cheek.

“I know. You can be incredibly dense sometimes.” Alice smiled tenderly at her.

Robin huffed a laugh.

"I was going to tell you, you know. At some point. At first, I was just afraid of losing you; but then I think I just convinced myself that you didn't feel the same. And then I was just scared out of my mind of you pushing me away, so I never said anything."

“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard. As if I could be anything other than completely and utterly in love with you.” Alice had the sudden urge to throw her arms up in frustration at their own stupidity.

“Then why didn’t you say anything?” 

“Before I knew I was in love with you I always had this dream that one day I would meet someone and this someone would be _it._ That’s the kind of love I wanted. When I realized that I was in love with you I realized that I always had been. Then I realized that with you, I wanted something that would last, not just a feeble teenager fling.

“We were kids still in school and did you know that ninety-eight percent of relationships that start in school break up at some point?” Alice avoided Robin’s eyes and didn’t wait for her to answer. “I wanted us to be the two percent. I want forever with you, Robin. So, you know. Same reasons as yours. I just convinced myself that I had to wait to tell you and then I never did. I made a lot of excuses when the truth was that I was just too scared of losing you too."

Robin hummed.

"Quite a pair we make." Robin countered light-hearted. "You come with all this talk about forever. Did you just propose to me?"

“I actually proposed when we were nine.” Alice finally lifted her eyes to look at Robin again.

“I did say yes then” Robin smiled at her.

“Guess we’ve been engaged this whole time, huh?”

“Guess The Mirror didn’t get it all wrong then.”

***

Alice was backed against the door, her hand holding on Robin’s hips and Robin took a step closer, pressing her body flush with Alice’s and lifting her arms to rest against the door, framing Alice’s face. Their faces were so close that they both could feel the electricity charging the air.

Robin stared down at Alice and felt her breath quicken and her heart skip a beat; they were breathing the same air now and Robin could just make out the scent of Alice’s skin. This was _oh so different_ from the first time they had done it when they were fourteen.

Alice gripped Robin’s waist tighter with one hand and brought the other up to hold the back of her head, softly pressing there to finally bring their mouths together in a deep kiss that made Robin’s stomach flutter while she tried to press her body even closer to Alice’s.

“We should head down for dinner," Alice whispered while her hand soft caressed Robin’s hair.

Robin hummed but didn’t make any move to separate their bodies.

After their conversation earlier that day, Alice and Robin had walked together back to Robin’s room and miraculously had managed to avoid everyone else.

“We have to tell them about- About...” Alice trailed off as Robin’s head dipped down to place open-mouthed kisses on her neck and all will to have any conversation left her.

“You were saying?” Robin teased as she gently bit on Alice’s collarbone and a shiver run through her body at the noise Alice let out at that. She did it again just because she wanted so bad to hear that noise one more time.

“We should...” Alice took in a deep breath that didn’t help her since Robin could still hear the way she was panting. “You should keep doing- _aah_.” She let out breathlessly and slipped her hand under Robin’s shirt just to rack her nails on the smooth skin of Robin’s back in retaliation. Though it backfired when that move made Robin’s hips push down on hers and Alice should really get the noises she was making under control, someone-

Robin’s trail of thought was interrupted when Alice pulled on her hair to dislodge her head from Alice’s neck and the next thing she knew their lips were locked together again in a much hotter kiss then the last one. Robin briefly wondered how the hell they had managed to hold out on doing this for so long.

It was admittedly more than a few minutes later when they _finally_ managed to let go of one another enough to try and make their clothes look like they weren’t actually making out in a hallway. Like, that was totally _not_ the reason they were late for dinner. Nope.

As soon as they walked inside the dining room everyone stopped to stare at them, and like a magnet, all eyes were immediately drawn to Robin and Alice’s clasped hands. Henry groaned.

“Couldn’t you guys at least have waited another week?”

“What?” Robin asked dumbfounded.

Regina smirked.

“Guess everyone owns me then.”

“Wait, what?” It was Alice this time.

“They were betting on when the two of you would actually get together.” Lucy explained and Robin and Alice gaped.

“You guys weren’t…?”

“Yup.” Ella confirmed.

“Killian said we shouldn’t bet. But then he lost, like a week ago.” Lucy kept going with her explanation. “And then Emma, and then my mom. Aunt Zelena lost yesterday. Now it was only between dad and Grandma. I wasn’t allowed to place in a bet.”  She looked pointedly at Regina then and crossed her arms.

“Don’t call me Grandma.” Regina quipped.

"I can't believe you guys were betting on our love life!" Robin said very indignantly.

“Can’t you? Really?” Emma taunted.

Alice scoffed but then she started laughing and Robin rolled her eyes but soon she was joining her all the same.

“You better buys us something nice with all the money you just won.” Robin told Regina as she and Alice took their seats at the table.

"We will see." Regina answered with a mysterious smile and everyone started to talk at the same time again. Across from them on the other side of the table, Killian was smiling proudly at Robin and Alice. Alice sent a smile Killian's way and then turned to look at Robin again, her crooked smile firmly in place and a glint in her eyes. Robin grabbed her hand and squeezed before smiling at Alice in return and for a moment all the noise their family were making decreased.

And then Henry was hollering at them and their moment was gone.

* * *

 

Chad and Zelena got married when Alice and Robin were 9; it was during summer break and for once, in the frenzy of all the things that needed to be done for the ceremony on the next day, Alice and Robin were let unsupervised after dinner was over.

Which absolutely meant a sleepover and staying up past their bedtimes.

“Are you excited for tomorrow?” Robin asked as she carefully placed her desk chair to create a makeshift column for their pillow fort.

“I am. It’s going to be _sooo_ pretty! I’ve never been to a wedding before.” Alice babbled excitedly while Robin worked on finishing up their fort. It wasn’t the biggest they had ever constructed, but it still was very elaborate and Robin took a step back to stare proudly at their creation.

Alice’s very first night in the Palace had been spent in a similar manner and since then, whenever their parents would indulge on their constant begging for a sleepover they would try new ways of constructing different kinds of pillow forts. Alice stopped beside Robin to look at their fort and gingerly laced their arms together.

“I like this one, Nobin.” Alice nodded.

“Me too! Now, it’s your job to arrange the inside. I’m going on a secret mission.” Robin announced and Alice turned her stare at her.

“What mission?”

“You will see. And don’t forget the fairy lights.” Robin winked and pulled her arm back, quickly sprinting out of her bedroom and into the hallway.

Alice simply shook her head good-naturedly and set on working to spread the blankets and pillows inside the fort for them to sleep on.

Robin returned not much later with a Tupperware of cookies and a bag of chips under one arm. Alice had just finished her task and was already on her pajamas lying on top of the blankets inside the fort.

“I got this from the kitchen. They didn’t even see me!” Robin told Alice with a smug smirk on her face as she placed her loot on the floor next to the fort and crawled inside to join Alice.

“No.” Alice told Robin before she could properly lie down. “You have to put on your pajamas first.”

"You're too bossy." Robin replied even as she crawled back to get out and change into her own pajamas.

***

“I don’t understand it.” Alice said much later after Robin had changed and they were both lying safely inside the walls of their pillow fort munching on the “stolen” cookies.

“What?” Robin asked with her mouth full.

“Weddings?”

“What do you mean?” Robin picked on the crumbs on her shirt and shoved them into her mouth too.

“Why is your mom getting married now?”

“Dunno” Robin shrugged. “Mom said that she and Chad loved each other very much and that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him; she says he is her best friend.”

“Oh.” Alice was very quiet for a moment. “We should get married too, then.” She announced happily like that was the most logical thing in the world and maybe it was.

Robin giggled. “We’re too young to get married.”

“You’re my best friend in the whole world, and I love you too. So we should.” Alice insisted.

“Ok." Robin agreed. Yeah. We should do it when we’re older!”

Alice squealed and jumped on top of her.

“I want lots and lots of flowers! And our whole family have to be there too. And-” And for the rest of the night (meaning until barely past ten when they finally passed out inside their pillow fort) Alice laid out all the details of how their future wedding should be while Robin was happy to just nod along to all of her suggestions.

Secretly, she was enjoying the thought of getting married to Alice one day too.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, people that are reading this. 
> 
> First, I want to apologize for taking so long to update. I don't actually have an excuse.  
> Second, I want to apologize for the lenght of this chapter; I've never written anything short in my life. Not sure I can. (There were another 10k of this that didn't make into the fic.)  
> And last, I want to thank everyone who has read the first chapter and has taken the time to leave kudos and comments. You guys are the best and I hope you have enjoyed the second part too.
> 
> Come find me on tumblr @gayagentprentiss


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